If you are an engineering aspirant seeking a seat in a technical institute in Karnataka, Maharashtra or Delhi, check its genuineness before taking admission. According to the HRD Ministry, out of the 203 unapproved institutes identified by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) in the country in the last three years, more than 120 were in these three states alone. Maharashtra alone accounted for a staggering 74 such institutes, making it home to the highest number of unrecognised institutes in the country. The national capital comes second with 22 such colleges and Karnataka, which boasts of the highest number of technical colleges in the country, follows third with 22 institutes. In a written reply to Lok Sabha last week, Minister of State for HRD D Purandeswari said, "Show cause notices have been issued to unapproved institutes advising them to seek approval of the competent body or close down such courses." She said UGC and AICTE have also prepared a list of such institutes and posted it on their websites. A senior official of the ministry giving an example of the malaise, said some years back they had detected an unrecognised institute which had even opened study centers across states and duped students. "Couple of years back, we had this unrecognized Rajasthan-based university which even went to the extent of affiliating study centres in states like Chhattisgarh and Orissa and managed to dupe hundreds of students of lakhs." "The matter came to light when students were well into their third and final year," he said.
