PMK wants government to take over erring engineering colleges

CHENNAI: Expressing shock over the Centre's data that about 25 per cent of engineering colleges that had violated rules are in Tamil Nadu, PMK chief S Ramadoss today urged the state government to take over such erring institutions to provide quality education.

"Engineering colleges that violate rules should be taken over by the government and brought under the control of Anna University," he said in a statement.

"In the past four years, out of the colleges that have been identified as having violated AICTE rules nationally, 20-25 per cent belong to Tamil Nadu," he said, quoting Union Minister Ram Shankar Katheria's reply in Parliament.

Tamil Nadu has 532 engineering colleges,the second highest after Andhra Pradesh at 670 of the total of 3,389 in India.

Charging some engineering colleges with collecting fees at at least twice more than what was fixed, he said some institutions in cities like Chennai and Coimbatore take "many times over and above" the stipulated fee.

"Students are fleeced by several colleges though they do not have sufficient infrastructure and qualified teachers," he said, adding that though AICTE had found 146 engineering colleges had violated rules in the past three and a half years, no action had been taken against them.

The PMK chief also said it was the duty of Anna University to release the list of erring colleges in the web to enable students and parents to know it.