In a relief for the Balaji Education Trust, which runs four management institutes at Wakad near Pune, Bombay High Court has set aside the decision of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) denying extension of the approval for academic year 2011-2012.
The trust is running Balaji Institute of Modern Management, Balaji Institute of Telecom and Management, Balaji Institute of International Business and Balaji Institute of Management and HRD since 2007.
AICTE denied extension of approval this year as CBI had filed a chargesheet against the trust's president. Aggrieved, the trust moved the High Court. According to the CBI, the trust's president obtained the initial approval by giving false information of AICTE.
AICTE told the court that it had taken a policy decision in June this year that the institutes figuring in CBI probe should not be given extension. A technical institute is required to obtain extension of approval every year from the AICTE. In this case, pending the extension process, the council had permitted the Balaji institutes to start admission process for 2011-12.
The division bench of Justices J P Devdhar and A R Joshi held in the decision last week that the policy decision of June cannot be applied for the academic year 2011-12, as the students were admitted prior to that. Observing that AICTE order was not "bonafide", the court directed the council to grant extension of approval within four weeks.
