As the government wants to make accreditation mandatory for all institutions, the IITs have said they would like to be accredited by a statutory body and not by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA).

The IIT directors have told the government that they have no objection to accreditation of the institutes, but insisted that the accreditation agency should be a statutory and autonomous organisation.

They expressed these views at the meeting of the IIT Council, the highest decision making body for the IITs, held here last month. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, who is the chairman of the council, told them that the government would set up an accreditation agency by introducing a bill in the Parliament soon.

"The directors said the accreditation should be conducted by a statutory body. The government has said the proposed accreditation agency would be a statutory body," a senior official of HRD Ministry said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry has drafted the bill for creation of the national accreditation agency. Sibal has already said that the government would try to introduce the bill in the coming session of Parliament, beginning next week.