The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has condemned the Virbhadra Singh government in Himachal Pradesh for allegedly conniving with private engineering colleges admitting students who did not sit for the JEE, a nationwide test.
Party leader Tikender Panwar said the government allowed the Himachal Pradesh Technical University to conduct a separate test for students to join private colleges, thus compromising on the established standards.
“The government has acted under pressure from private colleges that want an easy access to the market of a large number of students who apply for engineering courses and who do not get through the all-India tests.”
He said the State had over 34 engineering colleges, including 17 run by private universities, and during 2014-15, these universities enrolled a mere 3,055 candidates as against the 6,100 seats they had been sanctioned. The party demanded that the technical university which had no proper campus be made a full-fledged university or merged with the Himachal Pradesh University. It was acting like a facilitator for admission to some private colleges in a few engineering courses, it charged.
“The govt. allowed the HP Technical University to conduct a separate test, thus compromising standards”