Madras HC adjourns plea to stay counselling for engineering admissions

Asserting that the single window admission to engineering colleges through Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission (TNEA) has become completely impractical and lost its purpose, an association of self-financing engineering colleges has approached the Madras High Court seeking to stay the common counselling scheduled on June 27 for the academic year 2017-18.

Admitting the plea moved by Tirunelveli Anna University of Technology Self Financing Engineering Colleges Management Association, Justice M.M. Sundresh directed the standing counsel for Anna University to get instructions and posted the plea to Tuesday for further hearing.

According to the petitioner represented by its president S. Mohamed Jaleel, the Tamil Nadu Admission in Professional Educational Institutions Act was passed by the State in 2006 and came to effect on March 2007. As mandated by the Act 65% of the total seats available in the unaided engineering institutions and 50% of the seats in the minority-unaided engineering institutions are surrendered to the State government for admission through common counselling (TNEA) conducted by the Anna University.

'Objective impractical'

Claiming that the primary object of the TNEA to fill all the seats that are surrendered to the State has almost become impractical since the



introduction of the concept, the petitioner said, "In 2007, the total seats available for counselling was 1,09,784 and out of this 94,346 were filled leaving 15,438 seats vacant. The fact reminded the same in the following years which worsened in the last three years. In 2014, the vacancy touch one lakh seats and it raised to 1,18,000 seats in 2016."

Noting that the entire TNEA process leaves educational institutions with no time to fill the lapsed seats which are returned back to the colleges, the petitioner submitted that every vacant seat casts an irreconcilable financial burden upon the college. "Every college has to maintain high infrastructural and academic standards to receive accreditation. Therefore, a minimum. number of rooms, labs, research facilities, and qualified faculties are available with each college to cater to the total number of sanctioned strength of students. When college admits less number of students there is a considerable loss in terms of unused resources," the petitioner added.

Apprehending that this year too over one lakh seats would fall vacant, the petitioner made a representation to the State government on June 7 to permit private colleges to fill up seats on their own. Since the authorities have failed to respond to the representation, the association has approached the High Court.