Bhubaneswar, July 4: Utkal University is unlikely to start its BTech and MTech courses despite having advertised for enrolment of students for the current academic session.

Its proposal to start an engineering college has been caught in procedural wrangles because the university had not informed the Odisha government’s department of technical education, employment and training (TET) about its ambitious project.

Officials in the department said that there was no official communication from the varsity regarding its decision to run technical courses. “It was only through media reports that we were informed about their plan,” said an official.

“We were never even consulted. Being the nodal department, the university should have at least communicated to us about its plans,” said joint secretary, industries department Ratnakar Rout. The TET department, too, had made no efforts to find out the status of the project.

Last week, it received a communication from the finance department as to whether the department had accorded necessary permission to the university for the new technical courses.

“The proposal is now being considered. We are now examining if the proposal is in tune with the BPUT Act, 2002, and the Orissa Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fee) Act, 2007. We will examine the fee structure proposed by the university and also look into the student in-take procedure,” said the official. The university authorities had earlier stated that they would hold a separate examination to select the candidates and it would not go through the Odisha JEE.

After the TET department clears the proposal, it would go to the departments of higher education and finance for approval.

“It’s highly unlikely that the university will get the permission to start the courses during the current academic session,” said an official.

“The plan for the engineering college hasn’t been dropped but it would obviously get delayed because of the recent developments,” said vice-chancellor of Utkal University P.K. Sahoo, who held a meeting with the TET officials today.

Sahoo claimed that an official communication was sent to the department about a month ago. The university, however, had already brought out admission notice for its engineering college, Institute of Science and Technology, in June.

It had also started receiving application forms for BTech and MTech courses.

The latest development has resulted in confusion among the students who had already applied for admission.

Incidentally, the government had agreed to a proposal from the private colleges last year that no new engineering college would be given permission to open during the next five years.