Shocking! Students can get minority status on self declaration

By Vikas Vaidya

The students can get minority status on self declaration. On the basis of undertaking given by students, they get admission in minority quota. Shocking! This was disclosed by Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) itself. Many engineering colleges having linguistic minority status have admitted students of non-minority in their minority quota by taking the advantage of circular of 2013 issued by minority department which says that students can give the declaration and claimed the minority.
This year the engineering admissions has brought many changes. One of the changes is the minority colleges would be able to fill the vacant seats from general category candidates only in the last rounds.
As per the draft rules notified by DTE, it has been laid down that, this year vacant seats surrendered by the minority institutions of minority quota in the rounds conducted under Centralised Admission Process (CAP) round no. 1 to be filled only from the candidates from respective minority community. This procedure DTE would continue for subsequent rounds. DTE would fill the vacant seats in minority colleges from general category candidates only in the last rounds. This has created fear among the institutions having minority status. They felt that the minority admissions will not get students more than 10% thereby leaving no option from them to close down institutions.
Allotment of Centralised Admission Procedure-I had taken place. The Hitavada when checked the details of the colleges on website it was found that some of the colleges of linguistic minority has Maharashtrian students figured in the list of minority quota. When contacted DTE, it studied the matter and told The Hitavada that on the basis of declaration by students that they were of that particular minority, they can get the admission in minority quota. “There is no check system, no rules have been framed by Minority department. They do not need any signature from any authority to endorse their minority status. Taking advantage of that circular the minority colleges have increased their quota of admitted students.
The Government had different policy framework in 2013 and 2014. In 2013, DTE had made it clear that minority institutions should publish advertisement and complete of procedure of admission in round number 1. The vacant seats of round 1 was to be published in newspapers and conduct round no. 2. Seats remaining vacant after that round were surrendered to DTE for including in CAP after taking permission from minority department. Minority department was communicating the vacancy position to DTE. The procedure was smooth and giving social justice to all categories such as disadvantaged group of the society, minority and non-minority candidates.
The stand of DTE was altogether different as far as minority institutions are concerned. In 2014, DTE at the last moment allotted students to minority colleges only from respective minority community and completed round no. 1 without any notification resulting into a large number of vacancies. Even the meritorious students desirous of securing admissions to good minority colleges even through the seats remain vacant.
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Pune’s highest number of engg institutes apply for closure of branches


n AICTE approves closure of 6 city tech institutes

n Vidarbha’s 14 institutes get approval for closure of some branches



By Vikas Vaidya


There is an eye-opener for those who consider that engineering institutes at Pune are the best ones in STate. It is not the case, evident from the fact that All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has given approval to 30 institutes of Pune for closure of various branches. About 100 institutes of Maharashtra applied for closure of the brance, Vidarbha has share of 14 institutes. Meanwhile Nagpur’s 6 institutes got approval for complete closure.
With vacancy in engineering institutes is rising, the colleges have become choosy. The branches which are less attracting for students, are being closed down by the institutes themselves. From Maharashtra around 100 institutes applied for the same with Pune alone has a share of 30%. Most of the institutes prefered to close down the Electronics or Electronics Telecommunication branch. In Vidarbha 14 institutes including Polytechnics have applied for the closure of less-attractive branches and they got approval. Closure means the institutes can not make new admissions for that particular branch but the present batch of students would continue till the completion of their course.
City’s 6 institutes close down
Around 100 technical institutions had submitted application for shuttering down the college. AICTE has given the approval to them. Closure means the institutes can not make new admissions but the present batch of students would continue till the completion of their course. The colleges include Bhausaheb Mulak Polytechnic, Bhausaheb Mulak College of Engineering, Central India College of Engineering and Technology, G H Raisoni School of Management,  G H Raisoni School of Management and Studies, G H Raisoni School of Management and Research.

Closure of branches

In Vidarbha, some institutes had applied for the closure of branches which got approval by AICTE.
Chandrapur: Chandrapur’s Bajaj Chandrapur Polytechnic (Automobile), Amravati: Dr Rajendra Gode Institute of Technology and Research (Computer Engineering, Information Technology, Electronics and Telecommunication), Dr Rajendra Gode Polytechnic (Computer Technology and Electrical Engg);
Nagpur: Govindrao Wanjai College of Engineering and Technology (Electronics); Guru Nanak Institute of Engineering and Technology (Electronics), Jhulelal Institute of Technology (ETC), Kamptee Polytechnic (Computer Technology, Information Technology, ETC), Nagarjun Institute of Engineering, Technology and Management (Electronics Communication), Priyadarshini Bhagwati College of Engineering (Electronics Engg), Priyadarshni Polytechnic (Electronics Engineering), Rajashree Mulak College of Engineering (Electronics), Rajiv Gandhi College of Engineering and Research (CSE, MCA), Wardha : P R Patil Polytechnic, Wardha (Electrical and Electronics), Suresh Deshmukh College of Engineering (Electronic engg), Buldhana: Rajarshi Shahu Polytechnic (ETC).

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Time for institutes to reconsider minority status: Experts


Principal Correspondent

This is the right time for institutes to reconsider their minority status if they feel that the new rule of Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) bring them in trouble, feel experts.
The new rule of DTE says that the minority institutes can not surrender the minority quota in Centralised Admission Process (CAP) to get general students admitted to minority quota. They can surrender the seats only to get students from the respective minority. This rule has created chaos among minority institutes that include religious, linguistic minority. According to experts, if these institutes find themselves in trouble then it is the right time to reconsider the minority status. These institutes can change their status of minority to general category by applying with Minority department.
Most of the institutions especially the professional ones had applied for minority status as a good number of seats were there, which they could have filled at institution level. When the craze for engineering admissions reduced drastically these institutions started surrendering the seats of minority into Centralised Admission Process (CAP), through which they got admissions. Since last two years DTE has started changing its policy and they resisted minority institutions from surrendering the minority quota into CAP. Because of these changes, minority institutions are finding themselves in trouble.
There are three categories of colleges, viz. Private minority institution, private non-minority institution and government institution. The distribution of seats done- in case of Private minority institution- 51% seats are for minority students, 20% seats are of management quota, out of remaining 29% seats, 15% are filled up by the students who appeared for All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) and only 14 per cent seats are filled up through Centralised Admission Process conducted by Government.
Many times colleges are unable to fill minority quota. Such colleges surrender their vacant seats to CAP round, and then later during the rounds they add to remaining vacant seats. In Private non-minority institutions again 20% seats are for management, from remaining 80 per cent, 15% goes to  AIEEE and 65 per cent are filled up through CAP. The 29 per cent quota too gets bifurcated with the reservation— regional and category. Therefore, these colleges remain with only handful of seats that too in CAP where the students can take admissions. Last year, after absorbing minority quota seats, suddenly DTE did not include those seats in the first round allotment. Experts support DTE’s stand and say that if institutes with minority status feel the rule should not be applied then it is high time to reconsidering minority
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