Chennai: The Madras High Court has issued notices to the State government, Anna University, Coimbatore, All India Council for Technical Education(AICTE) and the University Grants Commission(UGC) on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition, seeking to restrain the university from permitting some of its affiliated engineering colleges to offer B Sc, M Sc and M S courses and admit students for these 'unauthorised' courses.

Admitting the PIL filed by an advocate N Raja Senthoor Pandian on behalf of Social activist Varaaki, a vacation bench comprising Mr Justices R S Ramanathan and N Kirubakaran issued notice returnable within two weeks.

In his PIL, Varaaki, sought a direction to the AICTE and the UGC to initiate appropriate action against the Anna University, Coimbatore for 'gross violation committed in the conduct of technical education courses.' The petitioner further stated that 'illegalities and irregularities’ were committed by circumventing procedures and violating laws.

As per AICTE regulations, affiliated colleges offering engineering courses could not conduct B Sc, M Sc and M S courses but the university had given approval for these courses in contravention of the AICTE Act, he said.

There was no provision to offer B Tech course for three years to diploma holders under the AICTE Act, but the university had given approval for running this course on its premises and that of some colleges.

The present system of functioning had lowered the esteem of the university among the public, the petitioner submitted.