Call to end quota misuse
Academicians and a section of Anna University faculty have urged the state government to scrap the industrial quota as it has been misused by administrators.
A senior faculty of the varsity said that students needed to score 100 per cent cut-off marks to join one of the university’s constituent colleges — College of Engineering, Guindy, Alagappa College of Technology, Guindy, Madras Institute of Technology, Chromepet and School of Architecture and Planning, Guindy, but several students had joined in the industrial quota without the required cut-off marks.
“When this is the case how can you expect quality students to come out of the prestigious colleges? The quota was introduced a decade ago with an aim to help eminent industrialists educate their children who scored top ranks, but later it got diluted with several undeserving students getting easy entries,” the faculty said.
An academician, on condition of anonymity, said that the industrial quota admission lacked transparency as nobody had access to the admission details. While the state Higher Education department has found that 400 students had been admitted illegally in the last five years, nobody knows the quantum of students admitted ever since the quota started.
Another academician pointed out that industrial quota existed only in Tamil Nadu and the state government should withdraw it as administrators had misused it.
RTI activist denied access to varsity info
With complaints against industrial quota in the Anna University going up, the university has denied access to information to RTI activist V. Gopalakrishnan in spite of the State Information Commission ordering the institution to provide all information that he had sought.
Mr Gopalakrishnan had filed a petition under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the public information officer (PIO) at Anna University in September last year seeking details of students’ names, roll numbers, cut-off marks and category of quota under which they had been admitted in BE, B.Tech and B.Arch programmes for 2009, 2010 and 2011 academic years.
He had also asked for the names and addresses of donors, donation category and value of donations given to Anna University from January 1, 2005 to September 15, 2011. But the PIO did not provide the details even after the stipulated 30 days were over. Mr Gopalakrishnan had then represented to the university’s appellate authority in October.
The University’s PIO had sent a reply on December 5 last year stating that the university could not provide the details as the matter was in court.
Aggrieved by the reply Mr Gopalakrishnan had lodged a complaint with the State Information Commission in December last year, based on which the State Chief Information Commissioner had ordered Anna University to provide the details sought.
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