Fixed seats in engineering colleges discriminatory: Directorate of Technology Education

To solve the issue of vacant seats in engineering courses, the Directorate of Technology Education has proposed a fixed number of admissions in every engineering college. The proposal is receiving harsh reactions from engineering colleges, who feel this is discrimination, as students will prefer one college over another, and there will be problems with the limited number of seats in all colleges.

"There may be popular colleges where seats may get filled every year and will continue to remain in demand, but at the same time, there may be new or not so popular colleges which face vacancies. A blanket rule of seat restrictions may not help resolve the issue, as colleges where candidates don't want to take admissions will continue to face vacancies," said the principal of an engineering college from Matunga.

College officials also feel that there should be a more thorough process of approving intake capacities of colleges. "The state government brought in a perspective plan to decide if a certain locality requires an engineering college. This has helped in reducing unnecessary seats in engineering courses. But there are certain branches of engineering such civil, electronics and telecommunication, which have increasing demand. Students want to take admission to a college, instead of just any engineering college. By restricting seats of colleges we are further limiting students' right to take admission to a college of their choice for a better future," said the principal of a Navi Mumbai college.