GUWAHATI, July 5 � Though the name of Assam Engineering College (AEC) does not figure in the new list of institutes approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the Director of Technical Education, Assam, Pradyut Goswami assured that there is no cause for worry as the name of the college did not figure in the list only because of a technical problem.
The fact that the name of AEC did not figure in the fresh list available in the website of the AICTE caused concern among the students and guardians as the names of other AICTE approved institutions including the Engineering Colleges and Polytechnics figure in the list.
When contacted, the Director, Technical Education, said that there is no reason for worry and the AICTE has already extended the time for submitting data up to the end of July. He said that the problem occurred due to a technical issue as the AEC could not submit all the relevant information to the Council. He said that the information required by the Council should now be sent online and the Council does not accept hard copies. But due to some problems, the AEC failed to submit the information online on time and that is why the name of AEC does not figure in the list of approved institutions. He said that the AEC would be able to send all the required information by this month and there would be no issue of disqualification of the college.
Replying to a question, Goswami said that an Engineering college requires approval from the State Government, concerned University and the AICTE and the AEC has fulfilled all the norms. An Engineering college needs at least 30 bighas of land and the AEC has 1300 bighas of land, while, the infrastructure required is available in the college. He said that there is no shortage of teachers in the college and in fact in some departments, the number of teachers is more than what is actually required. However, he admitted that a few departments including Electronics and Computer Science has shortage of senior faculty and that is a global phenomenon as it is difficult to find qualified persons for appointment in senior posts of these departments.
When pointed out that the college was running without full fledged principal for years, Goswami said that the problem occurred when the post was reserved for ST and SC as the Government had issued advertisement for the post twice and no qualified person applied. The Government has now moved the Assam Public Service Commission for de-reserving the post. However, at the same time, he said that the college has in �charge principal and that is adequate for AICTE recognition.
