Seat blocking scam: Karnataka freezes seat enhancement of two engineering colleges
The Karnataka government has frozen the engineering seat enhancement of BMS College of Engineering and New Horizon College of Engineering, which were allegedly involved in the seat blocking scam in the year 2024-25.
Both these colleges had submitted a proposal to All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for enhancement of a total of 1,020 engineering seats for the year 2025-26. The AICTE has given approval for the seats enhancement. However, the State government has not issued a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for these colleges.
Based on a complaint filed by Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), an FIR was registered against BMS College of Engineering, New Horizon College of Engineering and Akash College of Engineering in Bengaluru on the allegations that seat blocking took place during the admission of engineering courses for the year 2024-25. The police have already submitted a charge sheet to the court in this regard.
However, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) recently conducted searches on these three colleges in connection with the engineering seat blocking scam.
Amidst all these developments, BMS College of Engineering submitted a proposal to AICTE for a total of 120 Computer Science (CS) seats enhancement, and New Horizon College and Engineering submitted a request for 240 Artificial Intelligence (AI) and 660 CS seats. AICTE has given approval for the seats enhancement.
However, for the enhancement of engineering seats, the NOC of the State government concerned is mandatory.
Officials of the Technical Education mentioned that AICTE has cleared the application based on the online submission made by the institute and considering the documents. Even the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) approves applications for the enhancement or introduction of new courses based on the infrastructure. “The AICTE or the VTU has nothing to do with the police investigation, enquiry, or the scam. But the government has to look at all the angles while giving NOC,” the official said.
Speaking to The Hindu, Dr. M.C. Sudhakar, Higher Education Minister, said, “The police have submitted the charge sheet about the alleged engineering seat blocking scam to the court, and we are studying the same. We will decide on approving the enhancement of seats applied by the colleges only after getting the legal opinion.”
Further, the Minister said that private engineering colleges need to curb the indiscriminate enhancement of seats. “Institutes are only focusing on increasing CS and related courses seats. This is leading to the mushrooming of engineering colleges in tier-1 cities, which will lead to unemployment in the future. Therefore, a new law will be implemented to regulate engineering seats enhancement on the model of the Telangana government,” he added.
Karnataka government freezes engineering seat enhancement for colleges involved in seat blocking scam, awaiting legal opinion for approval. | Source: The Hindu
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3. Karnataka: ED searches in private engineering seat blocking 'scam' case - The Economic Times
4. Engineering seats in 3 private Bengaluru colleges being purchased using cash: ED - Press Trust of India
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