The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) informed the Madras High Court on Friday that there is no way to start the two MTech courses in Anna University that are funded by the Union government. The University had earlier announced that there will be no intake this academic year for MTech in Biotechnology and Computational Biology due to lack of funding from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).
According to reports, the AICTE informed that the deadline as given by the Supreme Court to admit students for the Master's programme has ended, and hence there is no chance of starting the two programmes this year at Anna University.
The row between Anna University and the Union Government is based on the difference in the reservation policy followed by the two power centres. While the government of Tamil Nadu follows a 69% reservation system, the Union Government ceiling for reservation is 49.5%. The admissions to these two programmes were conducted by the Union Government till last year and this year, the university took over the admission process. The University wanted to follow the state government’s reservation policy, while the Union Government insisted that 49.5% reservation be followed since the DBT is funding the programmes. For students admitted into these programmes, the DBT also provided a stipend of Rs 12,000 each. An aspirant had approached the court after the university’s announcement stating that admissions in all other colleges are closed and this announcement by Anna University has jeopardised the students’ careers.
The University, during the last hearing, submitted that it is willing to take in nine extra students per programme to attain the 69% quota and for those students, stipends will not be provided. The High Court had sought the AICTE’s response to this submission. The council told the court that the two programmes cannot be started this academic year since the Supreme Court had ordered an admission deadline of December 31, 2020. Recording the submission, the high court suggested that the state government and Anna University approach the apex court for an extension in the deadline since both the parties are willing to resume the programmes this year.