Golaghat Engineering College: Assam Legislative Assembly Worried over Uncertain Future

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: MLAs from both ruling & opposition benches in Assam Legislative Assembly on Friday expressed grave concern over uncertainty looming large over Golaghat Engineering College after the All Indian Council for Technical Education (AICTE) rejected the recognition plea of the college.

Raising the issue in the Assembly on the first day of the ongoing Summer session, Congress MLA from Golaghat Ajanta Neog informed the House that setting up of the engineering college was a dream come true for the people of Golaghat district which did not have adequate institutions of higher education. She said preliminary work to set up the college was started in 2011 and Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated the institution on February 5, 2019.

“I personally went to the inaugural function. But the when the news of the rejection of the recognition plea of Golaghat Engineering College came in May this year, it had made the people of Golaghat more angry and disheartened,” Neog said.

The Congress MLA made the State Education department solely responsible for the present uncertain future of Golaghat Engineering College. She said the AICTE had refused to accord recognition to the college as it failed to adhere to 17 conditions. Neog has personally met the Education Minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya and demanded early resolution of the issue so that the present students of the college no longer suffer from uncertainty in their academic career.

Education Minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya while responding to the issue told the House that he was himself surprised when the AICTE rejected the recognition plea only on few grounds. He, however, admitted that his department could not fill up various teaching and non-teaching posts in Golaghat Engineering College due to the imposition of the code of conduct due to Lok Sabha and Panchayat elections. He said the college had a temporary principal and professors when the AICTE rejected the recognition plea.

“We have started the process of appointing a permanent principal and 35 professors for the college. Altogether 60 posts have been sanctioned and the process of filling up the posts has already been started. We are very serious about the future of students of the college and applied for post-fact approval from the AICTE. We have already a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court on the AICTE’s recognition issue,” Bhattacharya said.

Also Read: All Assam Students Union calls public meet to discuss the rejection of AICTE recognition to Golaghat Engineering College