Hyderabad: The number of seats in private Engineering colleges in Telangana could go down by 60000 - 65000 for the 2015-16 academic year.

JNTU Hyderabad had agreed to nearly 40,000 seats to be cut in about 200 Engineering colleges and college managements are seeking further reductions of about 20,000-25,000 seats for the upcoming academic year. The varsity has now sought legal opinion on whether this can be done.

About 200 private Engineering colleges had approached the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) for reduction of seats and scrapping of certain branches under Chapter 2. But the TS government had not issued the mandatory No Objection Certificates before the AICTE deadline. Thus all the Chapter 2 applications were rejected by the AICTE.

However, the rules state that the affiliating university can also reduce intake in its affiliated colleges for an academic year. Considering this, JNTU Hyderabad had reduced the intake of Engineering colleges in TS by about 40,000 seats for this academic year.

The total number of seats in TS, had all Engineering colleges been allowed last year, would have been nearly 1.76 lakh. With the cut, the number has come down to 1.36 lakh this year. JNTU Hyderabad, meanwhile, is going to hold inspections of all colleges again after May 10 and it remains to be seen how many colleges get affiliation this year.

“JNTU Hyderabad had already given NOC for the seat reduction. So they asked for intake reduction at the affiliating university level. Total seats will come down by about 40000 as of now,” a JNTU Hyderabad official said.

But now engineering colleges are seeking further cuts of about 20,000-25,000 seats for the 2015-16 academic year. “We sought additional intake reduction. The university said they would seek legal opinion if that can be done now. We will try again once the inspections are completed,” an Engineering college owner said