In its bid to control quality of education, Rajasthan Technical University (RTU) has recently slapped a notice to four engineering colleges running M-Tech courses without following norms of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

The four institutes under the scanner of RTU are- Shekawati College of Engineering (Dunlod), Shree Balagi College of Engineering and Technology (Jaipur), Siddivinayak College of Science and Technology (Alwar) and Srinath Institute of Technology and Engineering.

The notice points out the deficiencies including lack of qualified faculty, a dedicated lab for M-Tech students and regular classes. The institutes were warned that if they failed to correct the deficiencies by May 31, the university will cancel their affiliation. The representatives of these colleges were also summoned by RTU at Kota recently. They were verbally apprised of the situation and when they did not comply, the notice was served.

The Board of Inspection for RTU, a body which conducts inspection, has found many deficiencies in the engineering colleges. These five institutes were found to have no improvement after after their summon. Some others were also given a verbal warning. "The body found that scarcity of teachers is a major problem. In many colleges, less qualified teachers are teaching M-Tech students, which is a gross violation of AICTE norms," an RTU official said. He added that they are working in tandem with AICTE and will have zero tolerance on colleges which are not following the norms.

Meanwhile, the board has recommended centralized exam for M-Tech students from the coming session. The board members feel that it will save time of students as in the existing system, they have to apply in more than one college for admission.

The centralized system will allow admission on the basis of merit. The board has also decided to crackdown on students enrolled for M-Tech programme and working full-time. "There are many cases wherein M-Tech students are teaching in the B-Tech students in the same college," a board member said.