The Hindu Business Line : Technical colleges — One-third of supernumerary seats reserved for children of Gulf NRIs

THE All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), which is a regulator of technical education, has now ruled that one-third of the 15 per cent supernumerary seats across different disciplines in an educational institution offering technical courses would be reserved for children of Indian workers in the Gulf countries.

Further, the children of Indian workers in the Gulf countries would be treated at par with resident citizens for the purpose of fees. "Now, there is no concept of NRI fees. In view of the Supreme Court judgment, there can only be one single fee. The children of Indian workers opting for admission under the supernumerary quota would only need to pay the same fee as applicable to any Indian citizen," an AICTE official told Business Line here.

Any vacant seats out of one-third category would be reverted to the quota of two-third meant for Persons of Indian Origin (PIO)/foreign nationals.

The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had in his inaugural address at the second Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Conference held in January this year announced that Indian workers in the Gulf, who have had to leave their children behind in India, would be permitted to avail themselves of the facility of one-third reservation out of the 15 per cent supernumerary seats across different disciplines in educational institutions.

An AICTE official held that all educational institutions that do not have accreditation with the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) would need to approach AICTE for approval for allowing such admissions.

The applicant institution or university department would have to conform to the norms and guidelines of AICTE, including adequate infrastructural facilities and a specified teacher-student ratio.