SC allows Pvt Colleges to admit students for MBA,MCA without AICTE nod

The Supreme Court has ruled that private colleges need not seek approval from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to conduct courses in master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Computer Application (MCA) courses at the postgraduate level.

AICTE Chairman S.S. Mantha said the Council would file a review petition against this order early next week.

The Supreme Court bench comprising of Justices BS Chauhan and V Gopala Gowda held that "MBA course is not a technical course within the definition of AICTE Act" and approval from the AICTE is not required for obtaining permission and running MBA course by the appellant colleges." With respect to institutes conducting MCA courses, the bench said that though MCA was a technical course, the AICTE had no business to lay down standards as for this purpose the Parliament had already enacted the UGC Act.

The judgment says that MBAs will not come under the purview of the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) and therefore the B-Schools will come only under the universities to which they are affiliated.

The court also said MCA is a technical course while MBA is "not a technical course" within definition of AICTE Act. "The same (MCA) is a technical education and therefore, it comes within the definition of technical education but for its proper conduct of courses and regulation the role of AICTE must be advisory and for the same, a note shall be given to the UGC for its implementation by it but not the AICTE," it said.

SS Mantha said there are about 4,000 management institutions and 1,600 institutions running MCA programmes in the country.

Academics say that from now on, the Arts and Science Colleges can run those institutes under their colleges instead of running them separately.

Till now the admissions was mostly based on the various entrance examinations suggested by AICTE. This may have helped identify academically brilliant students, but many of them lacked the qualities required for business.

Many management experts point out that the quality of teachers which had improved after AICTE's intervention, may be compromised once the universities are given control.

"They will be run like any other arts and science institute which is pathetic," said a senior academic who wished to be anonymous. The latest information is that AICTE is planning to file a review petition against the order.

The Association of Management of Private Colleges along with a few private institutes in Tamil Nadu had filed appeals against the AICTE order that forced them to seek the technical education regulator's approval for conducting an MCA course.