DTE asked to give second year engineering more seats

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has directed the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) to look into increasing the intake capacity of second year engineering students. The issue was raised by private unaided colleges, who challenged DTE’s new formula, which restricts the number of seats for direct admission to second year of engineering course for diploma students to 20 per cent. The colleges pleaded that they previously enjoyed higher reservation and hence the number of seats should be increased. In light of an order by the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay HC, the court directed DTE to look into the petitioner’s demands.

A division bench of Justices Anoop Mohta and Bharati Dangre was hearing a writ petition filed by unaided institutions, challenging a new seat distribution formula of DTE, wherein the number of seats reserved for students eligible for admission directly to the second year of the engineering course after having completed three years of diploma course, were reduced.

The petition had prayed that under the previous formula they had 17 seats out of the total intake capacity of 60, but under the new formula the seats were reduced to 12. The petition prayed that as the number of repeater students and direct admission students was high they should be allowed to include seats vacated by permanently left students in the reservation too.

Counsel for the state and DTE, Kavita Solunkhe informed the court that in light of an order by the Aurangabad bench of the high court, DTE had issued a notice stating that repeater students would not be admitted to the reserved seats for direct admission students and hence the petition should be dismissed as the grievance of the institutions was resolved.

After hearing the contentions, the bench directed the DTE to look into the request of the petitioners and kept the matter for hearing on August 14.

Can’t keep seats for repeaters

A division bench of Justices Shantanu Kemkar and N. W. Sambre of the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court on Tuesday, while hearing a writ petition filed by the Association of Management of Unaided Engineering Colleges, had said that intake capacity of second year engineering colleges could not include repeaters and the state should not give away the seats reserved for students who completed three year diploma course and were eligible for direct admission to the second year of the engineering course. The court held that the repeaters had to be accommodated over and above the intake capacity.

In light of the order, a DTE official said that this implied that a college having permissible intake of 60 students could have students over the limit if there are repeater students.