Nagpur: Students who graduated from the Laxminarayan Institute of Technology (LIT), particularly in the last few years, are facing cancellation of their admissions and jobs abroad. The prestigious institution has never applied for mandatory accreditation from the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) since inception, thanks to the apathy of its own management and NU administration.
Confirming the development, vice chancellor Subhash Chaudhari said his office received many letters from aggrieved students, who were abroad, and their parents in this regard. Some of them even approached the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court in this regard.
“For all of us, it was a big surprise that one of the oldest and more prestigious institutions for chemical engineering in India never attempted to get NBA accreditation. We’ve now set an objective to get autonomy for it as early as possible. We will be starting with National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation for the institution and try to receive a top grade. Later, we will go for NBA certification for its branches,” said Chaudhari.
The VC told TOI even LIT alumni had approached him in this regard after receiving complaints from students. “After directives from the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court, the Maharashtra government had granted approval to fill up 17 posts in LIT. However, the appointments were delayed as the government failed to clear the roster. Even 92 teaching posts cleared for NU departments and affiliated colleges are stuck due to the same reason. The deadlock on Maratha reservations led to further delay in finalizing the roster.”
Chaudhari clarified, though, there was no need to have full-time regular teachers for getting NAAC or NBA accreditation. “As per the Lonere-based Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Engineering University Act, there should be full-time teachers, but not necessarily approved by the university like mentioned in Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016. So, we can appoint contractual teachers, who will work full time for 10 months of an academic year. A majority of engineering colleges get NBA certification on the basis of contributory teachers. Therefore, even LIT would get it,” he said.
NU had applied for ‘deemed to be university’ status for LIT
In 2018, NU administration under then VC SP Kane had made efforts to get ‘deemed to be university’ status for LIT, and even submitted a detailed report to the University Grants Commission (UGC). But nothing has materialized till date.
The move was initiated following a suggestion from Union minister Nitin Gadkari, who was approached by LIT Alumni Association (LITAA), comprising noted individuals from India and abroad. They had requested him to take steps to improve the deteriorating condition of their alma mater.
LIT director Raju Mankar had drafted a comprehensive proposal in the form of a colourful booklet containing vital information and statistics, right from its conceptualization to present day status. The booklet also mentioned vacancies, clearly indicating that 49.2% faculty positions were vacant while 58.22% non-teaching posts are yet to be filled up in LIT.