To,
The Chairman
West Bengal Joint Entrance Examinations Board
AQ 13/1, Sector – V
Salt Lake City
Kolkata 700 091

Subject: Deputation seeking action against forgery and corrupt practices of few institutes that affect the interests of the student community

Sir,
The West Bengal State Committee of the Students’ Federation of India will like to have your attention on few issues worth complaining for as stated below:

1]    The University Grants Commission (UGC) in one of its regulations i.e. Establishment of and Maintenance of Standards in Private Universities, 2003 had emphasized on ‘the quality of education and to avoid commercialization of higher education… for safeguarding the interests of the student community’. It is also recommended as of paragraph 3.4 and 3.6 that [Annexure – 1], ‘A Private University shall fulfill the minimum criteria in terms of programmes, faculty, infrastructural facilities, financial viability and the programmes of study leading to a degree and/or a post-graduate degree/diploma offered by a Private University shall conform to the relevant regulations/norms of the UGC or the concerned statutory body [AICTE, MCI, Bar Council of India etc.] as amended from time to time respectively’.

The West Bengal State Committee of Students’ Federation of India (SFI) is completely in tune and agreed with UGC’s regulation and it has been fighting relentlessly for safeguarding the interests of the student community for decades.  SFI intends to draw the attention of all the stakeholders of the engineering and professional education over a few discrepancies found in some cases which are alarming for the good health of higher education in this state.

In last two years the State Government has approved and had legislated three private universities namely Techno India University, Seacom Skills University and Adamas University.

Now, the admission process is going on for the current session i.e. 2014-2015, includes the names of Techno India University and Seacom Skills University along with other universities as being eligible to intake students as per the notification of the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination Board [WBJEEB]. [Annexure 2]

On searching the website of UGC (www.ugc.ac.in) one could find a list of 184 private universities throughout the country. The name of Techno India University of West Bengal comes at serial number 184. Introspecting a bit further SFI found that the inspection status of the Techno India University, though the Expert Committee has been constituted yet the inspection is yet to conclude as per the information available in the UGC website. Another shocking fact is that there is no mention of Seacom Skills University in the UGC list yet the WBJEEB has claimed it as being one of the participating universities for intakes in academic session 2014-2015. [Annexure 3 & 4]

SFI demands the explanation of the WBJEEB regarding this discrepancy along with immediate notification of removing those names from the ‘University’ category to stop promotion of misguidance from the board’s part as the e-counseling is in continuation.


2]     Again concentrating on the circular of the WBJEEB having the names of participating institutions, the names of Techno India University and Seacom Skills University are in the ‘University’ type though both of the institutes have failed to secure affiliation of All India Council of Technical Education [AICTE], the highest regulatory body for technical education in India. There is an argument of armoring these institutes as ‘State Self-financing University – No Prior AICTE Approval Required’ as it has been done by the WBJEEB also. SFI categorically denounces that argument as being out-an-out ‘illegal’ and derogatory in effect to the future career of the students also. The WBJEEB is awaited for its explanation on undermining the verdict of the Apex court of the country on this issue by not declaring those institutes as ineligible to admit students for academic year 2014-2015 and striking them out of the list of participating institution. The copy of the verdict and AICTE’s letter to all the VCs has been attached for the convenience of the WBJEEB. [Annexure 5]

SFI asks the WBJEEB to act lawfully to solve this discrepancy immediately and not let the students’ to face doom in their academic career as well as professional career.


3]     SFI now will like to have your attention on another issue. The WBJEEB has come up with an ‘Institute Profile Details’ that includes fee details of the participating institutes. One could find on studying the details of ‘Techno India University’ (Serial no. 5) that the tuition fee payable at first semester Rs. 39000 and the total amount (if calculated) payable at the time the student is admitted is Rs. 78000. It is expected that the ‘tuition fee per semester’ is subjected to be paid every six months by the student after admission, as the other types of fees are only applicable at the time of admission in the course only. SFI was taken aback when it found that the Techno India University has provided with its fee structure in its own website which contradicts with that what is given in the WBJEEB notification. SFI found that Techno India University is charging the students with Rs. 79000 per semester for all the 8 semesters of the same course. [Annexure 6]

The WBJEEB should clarify its status on the aforesaid issue whether knowingly or unknowingly the board has missed to mark the discrepancy related to the fee structure of the aforesaid institute. SFI condemns the way the aforesaid institute is misguiding and forging students’ with more than what it has notified for. SFI also holds critical stand on WBJEEB’s involvement whether it is active or passive on misguiding student community and helping the private owners profit more in an unlawful way. SFI looks forward for board’s clarification on this issue.


4]     It is as clear as daylight now, that the Techno India University is nothing but a faulty case which is repeatedly getting caught in various misconducts and breach of various regulations and laws. Out of the suspicion, SFI has collected some more information which has drawn concern once again. If one would search the details of courses offered by the Techno India University, courses like (i) 6 Years Integrated B.Tech in Civil Engineering, (ii) 5 Years Dual B.tech – M.Tech in Civil Engineering, (iii) Integrated B.Tech – M.Tech – Ph.D in Civil Engineering and (iv) 5 Years B.Tech – MBA. These courses are in all the possible ways lucrative, but SFI has failed to find any mention of these courses in the Notification no. 268/Edn(T)/4E-10/12 Dated: 18th June 2014 of Technical Branch, Higher Education Department, Government of West Bengal. The Techno India University is admitting WBJEE rank holder students in these courses which has on one hand high and contradictory fee structure and on the other those don’t have any AICTE affiliation and even a proper UGC approval. SFI asks WBJEEB to restrict any activity related to board that end up being either corrupt or degenerative and notify in that regard as early as possible.

Techno India University has secured another milestone in corrupt practice. If one search it could be easily found that a single building having two part numbers i.e. EM 4 and EM 4/1 in Salt Lake, Sector V is registered as Techno India University and Techno India Salt Lake respectively. One is a University itself and the other one is affiliated to West Bengal University of Technology (WBUT). A single building consisting of two institutes comprising of a university and a college, yet it does not end here. It has been found that the one which is a university has claimed its intake capacity to be 1863 and the other one which is a college under WBUT has intake capacity of 798 students. Almost 2600 students are expected to continue their engineering study in a single building of dual identity. [Annexure 7, 8 & 9]

Now, SFI treats this as rightful to ask the WBJEEB board that what compelled the board to approve such an institution having all sorts of discrepancies in almost all aspects to participate in the WBJEE this year. SFI will further ask the board that how the board could ignore all those breach of regulations and violations of law by the same institute providing the seriousness of its stake in student community.

The West Bengal State Committee of SFI criticizes the board’s involvement in the organized forgery by those private institutions with the concerned students seeking for a healthy future. SFI demands immediate notification from the WBJEEB disqualifying those institutes of admitting students through WBJEE 2014 and invoke administrative enquiry against such forgery and corruption to safeguard the future of the educational community and to have its own image cleaned.

Thanking You,

Students' Federation of India
West Bengal State Committee

Date: 25th July, 2014




CC:1] MIC, Higher Education Department, Government of West Bengal
       2] Department of Higher Education, MHRD, Government of India
       3] The Chairman, AICTE
       4] The Chairman, UGC


Annexure Links:

Annexure1: www.ugc.ac.in/oldpdf/regulations/establishment_maintenance.pdf
Annexure 2: http://wbjeeb.nic.in/wbjeebcouns/seatinfo/ListOfPI.aspx
Annexure 3: http://www.ugc.ac.in/print_privateuniversity.aspx
Annexure 4: http://www.ugc.ac.in/privateuniversitylist.aspx?id=35&Unitype=3
Annexure 5: www.aicte-india.org/downloads/APH.pdf
Annexure 6: http://wbjeeb.nic.in/counsinfo/PIListView.aspx [Scroll down to Serial number 6 and Click on ‘more’]
Annexure 7: http://technoindiauniversity.ac.in/engg/index.php#
Annexure 8: http://wbxpress.com/e-counselling-admission-wbjeeb-2014/
Annexure 9: http://wbjeeb.nic.in/wbjeebcouns/seatinfo/InstitutewiseSeatInfo.aspx