The state-aided university that affiliates private BEd colleges has asked 96 colleges whose affiliation it had revoked to submit papers to get back the affiliation, hours after Calcutta High Court ordered the university to reinstate within 10 days the affiliation of those BEd colleges with valid documents.
An email sent to the 96 colleges late on Tuesday said: “All 96 colleges whose names were published….on 20/02/24 are required to submit all necessary papers regarding affiliation in the link provided at the earliest.”
“Those who have already uploaded their data in online application for affiliation... will mail details like NCTE teacher list, DBT (direct bank transfer) and Fire Safety Certificate.”
The division bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya gave the order after the owners of some of the colleges whose affiliations were revoked by the university told the court that even though they had submitted the required documents, the university was not reinstating their affiliations.
Tapan Bera, the president of the United Forum of the colleges, said: “We will complete the formalities... We hope the affiliation of the colleges will be reinstated and they will be allowed to admit students as has happened with the other 157 colleges.”
Baba Saheb Ambedkar Education University had in November 2023 barred 253 such institutions from admitting students because they were not abiding by the National Council for Teachers' Education (NCTE) regulations.
In December, the university issued a notification stating that the colleges could apply for affiliation afresh if they had done the needful according to the NCTE norms
The affiliation of 157 colleges was reinstated and they were allowed to admit students following an order by Justice Kaushik Chanda of Calcutta High Court. These 96 colleges allegedly did not comply with the norms.
Soma Bandyopadhyay, vice-chancellor of the university, said: “It was sheer coincidence that the communication was sent to the colleges on Tuesday. Our communication was part of an ongoing process. The high court in a different case asked us to file a report on April 4 on the present status (of affiliation). The emails were sent about that case.”
The case she was referring to was one in which the court in February asked the university to issue a list of colleges whose affiliations were intact and those whose affiliations had been revoked.