Ten months after HRD minister Kapil Sibal began a clean-up at All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the controversy-ridden body is functioning in a transparent and efficient way.
AICTE chairman RA Yadav was suspended last July for alleged irregularities. CBI also slapped a case on its member-secretary.
Giving AICTE a thumbs-up, Sibal said on Thursday that it had undergone a transformation and was functioning as per norms.
“There was real disorder in AICTE. Now, wherever I go, people are appreciating its work. That means change has come to AICTE and it has impacted the system. AICTE has brought transformation from ‘Inspector Raj’ to a regime of self-disclosure. When I came to the ministry, I received many complaints against AICTE. But now I can say with confidence there has not been a single complaint against it in the last two months,” he said.
The minister said in the recent months, AICTE introduced a number of reforms ensuring transparency in its functioning. There is now an online process of dealing with proposals, a liberalised process of granting approvals and a National Board of Accreditation (NBA).
The council has changed its system of granting approval to engineering and MBA colleges and its accreditation policy. The process has changed from inspection by AICTE to self-declaration by institutions about facilities, labs and infrastructure along with a video proof of the same. AICTE can verify by sending a team if it suspects foul play.
In the last one year, AICTE received around 12,100 applications seeking various approvals.
“We have made radical changes in the system and introduced e-governance in processing of applications. There is more accountability and reorganisation of the workforce now,” AICTE vice-chairman SS Mantha said.
The changes in AICTE give hope for a change in system at Medical Council of India (MCI). Its president Ketan Desai was recently arrested on corruption charges. The government, through an ordinance, dissolved MCI and appointed a committee to look at its functioning.
“There is hope that after engineering, medical education will also be streamlined,” a member of People for Better Treatment, the group campaigning for a corruption-free MCI, said.
