The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE),the countrys top advisory body for the Central and state governments on matters pertaining to teachers education,has been pulled up by the Supreme Court for allegedly granting illegal recognition to many private colleges . A Bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly had on July 20 asked NCTE Member Secretary Hasib Ahmad to appear in person and give details of steps taken against Regional Director,Western Regional Committee,NCTE,for allegedly granting recognition to private colleges offering B.Ed courses in Madhya Pradesh in breach of the NCTE Act,1993. Ahmad,who was present on Wednesday,briefed the court that the NCTE had already inquired into the irregularities and inspected 384 colleges in the state,of which 162 were rogue. We analysed the problem areas and did field checks on the colleges. We inspected 384 colleges and found 162 institutions without NCTE recognition. Later,after review by a special panel,20 to 25 of these colleges got their recognitions back. But some of the colleges went on to admit students during the probe, Ahmad said. He maintained that the colleges that got their recognition back only had some technical faults. These admissions were not accidents. Managements (of the colleges) should be made to pay compensation to the students, the apex court observed. NCTE,by its own admission in the apex court,granted recognition to 1,188 private colleges offering B.Ed courses in Madhya Pradesh,Maharashtra,Gujarat,Goa,Chhattisgarh and Daman&Diu between 1996 to 2009. We do not see a semblance of sanctity here, the Bench said with regard to Ahmads oral submissions. The court demanded that in three days time it wanted a categorical statement from the NCTE ensuring that no college is granted recognition without fulfilling the mandates enshrined in the NCTE Act,1993 . The court maintained that institutions duly recognised by the NCTE,affiliated to statutory universities and that have admitted students have no problem at all. However,it said it will examine those colleges which are affiliated to universities without formal recognition. The Bench directed Ahmad to seek the instructions of the NCTE chairperson and file an affidavit about the "effective steps" taken so far by the Council to stem the illegalities.
