Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Technical Education Minister Laxmikant Sharma today admitted in the Assembly that there are more than 24,000 seats lying vacant in various engineering colleges of the state. Replying to a query by Deputy leader Congress Legislative Party Rakesh Singh Chaturved, Sharma said a high-level committee had been formed to bring about reforms in the admission process and issues related to the management of engineering colleges in the state.
The Minister said the committee formed for reforms would be headed by an official of the rank of Principal Secretary. The committee after looking at ways to reform the admission process while taking into account the rising number of private engineering colleges in the state would submit its report within one-and-half months to the state government. Providing further details, Sharma said during 2007-08 there were 5,447 seats found vacant in private engineering colleges while in 2008-09 it was 2,618. During 2009-10 the number of vacant seats were found to be more than 24,300. The number of private engineering colleges went up from 124 in 2007-08 to 159 in 2008-09 and 208 in 2009-10.
The reason behind a large number of seats remaining vacant in the state could be on account of rising number of private engineering colleges in the state, he said. Disagreeing with the Minister's reply, Chaturvedi said the rising number of vacant seats was due to delay in holding of the examinations and counselling for admissions in the state. A total of 3,000 students from the state were compelled to seek admission in other states due to delay in holding of counselling sessions. He said against 3,000 students from Madhya Pradesh going out to other states, a total of 8,000 students from other states had sought admission in the private engineering colleges of the state.