For the first time in its history, Telangana will observe a massive drop in number of engineering seats as the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTU-H) has found 166 engineering colleges to have submitted incorrect teacher qualification details.

Big names such as Anurag Group of Institutes, Aurora Group of Institutes, CMR Group of Institutes, CVR College of Engineering, Malla Reddy Group of Institutes, Marri Laxman Reddy Institute of Technology and Management, St Mary’s Group of Institutes, Vardhaman College of Engineering, Vignan Group of Institutes among many others are a part of the list which is available on the official website of Telangana Admissions and Fee Regulatory Committee (TAFRC).

The TAFRC has sought clarification from the 166 engineering colleges and has stated that if they fail to do so then fee for these colleges would be reduced accordingly. The TAFRC has called representatives of these colleges between June 16 to June 20 for clarifications. Officials said if the colleges fail to address the issue, it will eventually lead to disaffiliation of colleges, resulting into drop in number of engineering seats. 

This year, 1,03,923 candidates have qualified for the counselling process in the engineering stream. While the counselling process for engineering colleges is set to begin from June 22, it is most likely that the number of seats available would be as low as 50,000. “A lot of engineering colleges have either sought closure or have not fulfilled the affiliation norms. Therefore, the number of engineering seats will drastically drop this year,” said N Yadaiah, registrar of JNTU-H, not wanting to disclose any specific figures. 

Last year, there were total 98,691 candidates who had qualified for the Engineering, Agriculture and Medical Common Entrance Test (Eamcet) counselling. The total number of engineering seats available were 86,805 of which only 56,017 were filled and 26,695 remained vacant. While last year 17 government colleges and 231 private institutes were a part of the counselling process, this year the picture seems to be grim as the list of affiliated colleges is yet to be declared by the JNTU-H.

The final phase of allotment of seats for engineering will be made on July 30 and the classes will begin from August 2.