The All Indian Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has directed all the technical institutions not to keep original certificates of students if they discontinue their courses. AICTE has warned all the technical institutions that the violation of the directives could lead punitive action such as fine, suspension of approval and reduction of approved intake.
As per the reports, HRD and AICTE have received various complaints against institutions that they have refused to return the original documents of the students and have demanded them to pay the fees for subsequent years even after they have withdrawn themselves from respective colleges. Therefore, AICTE has directed the institutions to not to retain original documents of the students after they withdraw their admission from a respective programme.
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Professor Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE said that the norms regarding the same have been clearly mentioned in the handbook. The circular was issued on 6 April 2018 and stated that it is not permissible for institutes to retain original documents and demand fee from students for the subsequent years.
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As per the AICTE norms , if a student withdraws from a programme before the start date, in that case, students entire fee will be refunded and not more than Rs. 1,000 shall be deducted as the processing fee. If any technical institute does not follow the norms, students can file a complaint against them and strict action will be taken against the institute.