The Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur, has proposed a 10 per cent reduction in student intake next year because of lack of "adequate infrastructure".
The board of directors of IIEST is expected to decide on the proposal by the institute's director, Ajoy Kumar Ray, at a meeting in Delhi on Tuesday.
Representatives from the HRD ministry, which funds the institute, are expected to attend the meeting.
"We lack infrastructure such as hostel accommodation and laboratory space to accommodate 735 students. We thus want to reduce intake strength by 10 per cent next year. The board and the ministry have to endorse the proposal. We are yet to get funds for developing the required infrastructure," said Roy.
According to campus sources, the institute also needs to add classrooms and increase the number of teachers to accommodate over 700 students. This year, 735 seats were on offer at the IIEST.
If the proposal is okayed, the seat strength for the 2016-17 session will be 662 following proportionate reduction in all categories - general, OBC, SC and ST, said an institute official.# At IIEST and other engineering institutes run by the Centre, 49.5 per cent of the seats are reserved for OBC, SC and ST students.
Infrastructure shortage had played a role in this year's IIEST admission as well. Over 130 seats had remained vacant after the institute did not participate in a special round of counselling conducted by the Central Seat Allocation Board (CSAB) in July to fill vacant seats in the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and other institutes that admit students on the basis of JEE Main rank.
"We did not participate in the special round of counselling because of infrastructure inadequacies. We don't want students to attend classes in a cramped room," IIEST director Ray had told Metro then.
Some students who were to study at IIEST had moved to various NITs taking advantage of the July counselling.
Roy said the infrastructure shortcomings that had prompted the institute to skip the special counselling are yet to be addressed. "We don't think the infrastructure problems can be overcome before next year's admissions," he said.
In five years starting from the 2014-15 academic session, the IIEST is supposed to receive Rs 593 crore from the ministry, in instalments of more than Rs 100 crore annually.
"In the first year (2014-15), we had received only Rs 52 crore, of which Rs 28 crore came at the end of the financial year. This fiscal, we have received Rs 52 crore so far. After paying salaries, hardly anything is left to set up high-end research laboratories or build hostels," said sources on the campus.
The institute had last year proposed to the ministry that OBC seats be increased in phases.
The official said as the ministry had made the institute implement the entire 27 per cent OBC quota from this year, it would be difficult for the ministry to put on hold the implementation. "At the same time the institute can't hope to slash seats only in general category," said the official.
