HC asks AICTE to probe if colleges running unapproved courses

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The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has been asked by the Delhi High Court to probe into an allegation that various engineering colleges are conducting unapproved courses.

Disposing of a plea for direction to colleges to stop unapproved courses, a bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw asked AICTE, the regulatory body for technical education, to carry out a thorough probe and apprise it of its findings within four months.
 "We dispose of the writ petition with a direction to the AICTE to undertake thorough enquiry and investigation into the matter preferably within four months. The outcome of the said investigation in the form of status report shall be filed in this court," the bench said.

The court order came after the AICTE counsel told the bench that the statutory body would examine the allegations by conducting an "in-depth" enquiry into the matter.

The court's order came on a public interest litigation petition, filed by Shabad Welfare Society of Allahabad, seeking directions to various technical institutions to stop running unapproved courses and caution the public against taking admission in such courses not approved by the AICTE.

According to the petitioner, many institutions have been running the unapproved courses like BSc and MSc in various disciplines in their colleges despite notices from AICTE.