Govt rejects engg colleges' plea for online admission

Special Correspondent State government has turned down the request made by the managements of private engineering colleges over online admissions for category-B seats."This is not possible. They have to fall in line in accordance with the GOs. As the High Court has stayed the implementation of GOs 66 and 67 last year, we could not make progress. This year, we have no such compulsion and we will implement the GOs. I conveyed the same to the managements that they have to accede to the norms set by the government," Damodara Rajanarsimha, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Higher Education told a select group of mediapersons on Tuesday. Several representatives of private colleges participated in meeting held on Monday at the Minister's chamber. The managements have urged the Minister to defer the online system as the Category-B seats are the sole domain of the managements. They even went further and demanded that the system of EAMCET, AIEEE (now JEE Mains) rankers shall be done away with for B seats and urged freedom to fill up the seats on the basis of Intermediate marks. The government has straightaway rejected this proposal saying it would lead to chaos. Meanwhile, the government has set a deadline of March 20 for the private engineering colleges to file their data online. The last date was in fact March 6 and has been extended as more than 80 percent of colleges have not uploaded their data by that time. Colleges are still in defiant mood stating that the format is not acceptable to them.

Officials amused at Mohan Babu's theatricsA Mohan Babu, veteran actor and Chairman of the Srividya Niketan Institutions, has reportedly argued with the officials saying that Government has been trying to infringe upon their domain. "We spent lakhs of rupees on infrastructure. Government, even till date, has not released the reimbursement arrears amounting to hundreds of crores. How can we run the colleges? You have been saying pay of sixth pay commission pay scales to the faculty. But where is the faculty? There is huge dearth of faculty in India. Doesn't the government know these facts?" Mohan babu has learnt to have argued in a filmy style. But a senior official of the government has asked the actor not to go into too much of details and stick to his version. He reportedly advised him not to criticise the government quite often. Officials though peeved, tightlipped over the spat and requested the media not to blow it out of proportions. The Deputy Chief Minister too appeared to have not attached any importance to it on the ground that it is not particularly aimed at anyone but an expression of his agony.