Cabinet foils move for 26 new engg. colleges

By C. Gouridasan Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JAN. 10. In what amounts to a sharp blow to the Education Minister, Mr. P.J. Joseph, the Cabinet today decided not to clear his proposal for starting 26 new engineering colleges in the State.

The Cabinet took the decision in Mr. Joseph's absence and despite it not being on the agenda. The Education Minister was in his home town, Thodupuzha, overseeing preparations for the 41st State Schools Youth Festival, which began today.

The Cabinet decision is also significant in that it has come barely 48 hours prior to the arrival of a high-level team from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to scrutinise the proposals and inspect the sites of some of the proposed engineering colleges. The 15-strong team, headed by Dr. Aggarwal, is arriving here on Friday to scrutinise the proposals for the new engineering colleges and recommend clearance for the eligible ones.

According to highly-placed sources in the Government, the matter was brought up at today's Cabinet meeting by the Chief Minister, Mr. E K. Nayanar, who expressed serious reservations about the move. As desired by him, the Cabinet decided to inform the AICTE that the State is in no hurry to sanction new engineering colleges. It also decided to revoke any NOC that the Education Department may have already issued.

It is not immediately clear whether the Cabinet decision would seal the fate of the proposed engineering colleges for the time- being. Informed sources in the Education Department said that the AICTE is free to take an independent view of the matter as laid down by the Supreme Court in its verdict in the Unnikrishnan versus State of Andhra Pradesh Case. However, that might be easier said than done if the Government sticks to its decision not to grant NOC for the proposed engineering colleges.

The Education Department had received about 70 applications, 58 of them for opening new engineering colleges and the rest seeking clearance for starting new batches for MCA and other similar courses. The Department is understood to have decided to issue NOCs to 26 of those who had applied for new engineering colleges. Eighteen of these are from the private sector and six in the quasi-Government sector.

The Education Department had gone about the job of clearing the list of new engineering colleges very quietly and was planning to facilitate creation of around 10,000 additional engineering seats and 2,000 MCA seats during the 2001-2002 academic year. Sources in the Education Department said utmost secrecy was maintained to ensure that there was no irregularity in the entire exercise. However, the CPI(M) appears to have taken a different view of things.

It is not clear whether Mr. Joseph would go by the Cabinet decision to revoke the NOCs. He could be expected to resist the move and, if that happens, it could strain the relations between the CPI(M) and the Kerala Congress(J) at a very inconvenient time for the ruling LDF. The matter would now have to go before the LDF State Committee for a decision.

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