■ Staff Reporter :
ACTING on the complaints received regarding admissions in engineering colleges, the Maharashtra State
Common Entrance Test (CET ) Cell has asked the
Directorate of Technical Education to send observers to
ensure transperency. This is the first time that
such observers have been appointed. The
observers have been appointed in Pune,
Kolhapur and Nagpur. According to sources,
in Pune alone, a whopping 59 colleges are
found to have flouted the rule.
A senior official while talking to ‘The
Hitavada’ said, “As per rule 13, the admissions should be done in a transparent manner. CET Cell received a complaint, and
accordingly, it swung into action.
It asked DTE
to appoint observers and send them to Pune,
Kolhapur and Nagpur”. According to CET Cell, the
number of colleges which have flouted the rule is higher in Pune. CET Cell identified the colleges which have
not done admissions as per rule and provided the list to
DTE. It has asked the DTE to send observers. These
observers will visit the colleges listed and check their
admissions. They are supposed to submit the report initially to the Joint Directors, who will subsequently hand
it over to the Director.
According to an official, the colleges have to do admissions without exceeding the official intake. They are
expected to upload every single development regarding
admissions on the website of CET Cell. They have
taken good care while doing admissions of the
institute-level quota. Now observers will
check the details of the admissions.
They
will try to match the number of admissions done and the number uploaded on
the website.
The complaints that the CET Cell
received pointed out that large-scale financial irregularities have occurred in rounds
of admissions, because of which meritorious
students faced injustice.
For institute-level admissions, according to the
CET website, institutes are supposed to display vacant
seats on the institute website and give appropriate advertisements in the newspapers, invite applications from
registered candidates, and prepare and display a merit list on the college website. Rule 13 of the Information Brochure says, ‘Admissions in Institutional Quota and vacant seats after CAP’. These rules include a transparent manner of admissions strictly on a merit basis.