NEW DELHI: India has 277 fake colleges offering engineering and technical courses, the Centre informed the Lok Sabha on Monday. Delhi tops the list with 66 fake engineering colleges, followed by Telangana in the second spot with 35 colleges and West Bengal on number three with 27 colleges.

Karnataka has 23 such fake engineering colleges, followed by Uttar Pradesh which has 22.

The information was presented in the Lok Sabha by Minister of State Human Resource Development Satya Pal Singh while replying to questions by three MPs - P Nagarajan of the Anna India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Laxman Giluwa and Rama Devi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

State wise list of fake colleges

Sl. No. State/ UT Number of fake institutes 1 Andaman and Nicobar Islands 0 2 Andhra Pradesh 7 3 Arunachal Pradesh 0 4 Assam 0 5 Bihar 17 6 Chandigarh 7 7 Chhattisgarh 0 8 Dadra and Nagar Haveli 0 9 Daman and Diu 0 10 Delhi 66 11 Goa 2 12 Gujarat 8 13 Haryana 18 14 Himachal Pradesh 1 15 Jammu and Kashmir 0 16 Jharkhand 4 17 Karnataka 23 18 Kerala 2 19 Lakshadweep 0 20 Madhya Pradesh 0 21 Maharashtra 16 22 Manipur 0 23 Meghalaya 0 24 Mizoram 0 25 Nagaland 0 26 Odisha 1 27 Puducherry 0 28 Punjab 5 29 Rajasthan 3 30 Sikkim 0 31 Tamil Nadu 11 32 Telangana 35 33 Tripura 0 34 Uttarakhand 3 35 Uttar Pradesh 22 36 West Bengal 27 Total 277

Outlining the details of action taken by the Centre against these colleges, Singh said that the concerned state has been asked to shut down the colleges.

“The Institutions conducting unapproved courses are directed from time to time through Public Notices and individual letters under intimation to concerned state government to seek AICTE approval for conducting of technical education programmes or to close them down,” he said.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) also maintains a list of 24 fake universities on its website which is regularly updated. These varsities are:

Maithili University/Vishwavidyalaya, Darbhanga, Bihar. Commercial University Ltd., Daryaganj, Delhi. United Nations University, Delhi. Vocational University, Delhi. ADR-Centric Juridical University, ADR House, 8J, Gopala Tower, 25 Rajendra Place, New Delhi - 110 008. Indian Institute of Science and Engineering, New Delhi. Viswakarma Open University for Self-Employment, Rozgar Sewasadan, 672, Sanjay Enclave, Opp. GTK Depot, Delhi-110033. Adhyatmik Vishwavidyalaya (Spiritual University), 351-352, Phase-I, Block-A, Vijay Vihar, Rithala, Rohini, Delhi-110085 Badaganvi Sarkar World Open University Education Society, Gokak, Belgaum, Karnataka. St. John’s University, Kishanattam, Kerala. Raja Arabic University, Nagpur, Maharashtra. Indian Institute of Alternative Medicine, Kolkatta. Institute of Alternative Medicine and Research,8-A, Diamond Harbour Road, Builtech inn, 2nd Floor, Thakurpurkur, Kolkatta - 700063 Varanaseya Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Varanasi (UP) Jagatpuri, Delhi. Mahila Gram Vidyapith/Vishwavidyalaya, (Women’s University) Prayag, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. Gandhi Hindi Vidyapith, Prayag, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. National University of Electro Complex Homeopathy, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose University (Open University), Achaltal, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh Vishwavidyalaya, Kosi Kalan, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. Maharana Pratap Shiksha Niketan Vishwavidyalaya, Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh. Indraprastha Shiksha Parishad, Institutional Area,Khoda,Makanpur,Noida Phase-II, Uttar Pradesh. Nababharat Shiksha Parishad, Anupoorna Bhawan, Plot No. 242, Pani Tanki Road,Shaktinagar, Rourkela-769014. North Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology, Odisha. Sree Bodhi Academy of Higher Education, No. 186, Thilaspet, Vazhuthavoor Road, Puducherry-605009

The matter of Bhartiya Shiksha Parishad, Lucknow, UP is subjudice before the District Judge - Lucknow.

The ministers said that in order to regulate the engineering colleges, the AICTE has been established by an Act of Parliament (Act 52 of 1987) with a function to grant approval to new technical institutions, introduction of new courses etc. The AICTE has also notified regulations mandating the technical institutions to obtain the prior approval for running courses in Engineering and Technology.

Further, the Institutions conducting unapproved courses are directed from time to time through Public Notices and individual letters under intimation to concerned state

government to seek AICTE approval for conducting of technical education programmes or to close them down.