In a written response to a question in Lok Sabha, HRD minister Smriti Irani also shared data as per which the number of duplicate faculty in 7155 AICTE approved institutes stood at 9060.

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), it added, has initiated action for updating the faculty details of all technical institutions along with their PAN and AADHAR card on its web portal to avoid duplication of faculty.

Irani said that about 33.85 per cent of faculty have submitted their AADHAR card details while for 73.91 per cent of the faculty PAN card details had been uploaded on AICTE website.

In a reply to another question about scrapping of courses by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Irani said that a large number of programmes were offered through face-to-face mode by the University by signing MoUs with private institutions which were not as per the mandate of the University.

Subsequently, based on the report of a high-powered committee, the University has discontinued or kept in abeyance some of its programmes including community colleges offered through face-to-face mode, she said.