New Delhi, Nov. 2: The Planning Commission has accused the human resource development ministry of unilaterally tweaking an accepted plan to build model colleges in backward districts, triggering a dispute likely to delay the execution of the scheme.

The commission has questioned a controversial HRD ministry proposal that will allow colleges already set up — after a cut-off date — to apply for government funds originally meant for the new colleges, The Telegraph has learnt.

The proposal was not a part of the HRD ministry’s draft scheme approved by the Centre’s expenditure finance committee for the cabinet’s consideration, the Planning Commission has said.

The objections — raised by the commission in its response to a cabinet note on the model college plan — have forced the HRD ministry to re-evaluate its plans.

The ministry is drafting a fresh cabinet note that will need comments from all ministries — a process that may delay the implementation of the model college scheme.

The scheme was first announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his Independence Day address in 2007 and is aimed at building a model college in each of 374 educationally backward districts.

These institutes are expected to act as exemplars for other colleges to follow in the districts identified because of enrolment rates below the national average.

The model college scheme was approved in the XIth Five-Year Plan by the National Development Council in December 2007.

The HRD ministry subsequently drafted a plan to implement the scheme, proposing that the Centre contribute one-third of the finances needed to start the new colleges.

The state government under this plan was required to either fund the remaining two-thirds of financial requirement by itself — or seek public-private partnerships to meet investment needs.

The HRD ministry draft plan — completely silent on allowing any existing colleges to benefit from the financial grants — was approved by the EFC that whets all new schemes with financial implications.

But the HRD ministry tweaked this proposal to suggest that colleges started after the date when the NDC approved the XIth Plan also be allowed to apply as “new colleges” under the scheme.

Both government and private colleges can apply to government funds to become the “model” college of their district, under the altered HRD ministry proposal.

This altered proposal was sent in the form of a note for the cabinet — leading to the objections from the Planning Commission.

HRD ministry officials said the alteration was aimed at “pushing numbers” -- ensuring that the proposed colleges come up in the shortest possible time.

But critics of the alteration said the HRD ministry’s change effectively challenged the vision behind “creating” model colleges.

“The scheme could become reduced to upgrading existing colleges instead of building new exemplars -- as was the vision behind the Prime Minister’s announcement,” a critic said.