Engineering Seat Increase In Karnataka Amid Admission Scam

In an ambitious decision, the government of Karnataka has placed plans for raising engineering seats from two big private colleges — BMS College of Engineering and New Horizon College of Engineering — both under scrutiny for their suspected role in a seat blocking scandal for high-end seats in the 2024-25 academic year.

Even after being approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to raise their intake by a combined 1,020 engineering seats in the 2025-26 academic session, the colleges have run into a roadblock. The state government has not provided the mandatory No Objection Certificate (NOC), and thus the expansion is, as good as, being kept on the backburner.

The outrage is over a complaint made by the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), which led to the filing of a First Information Report (FIR) against BMS College, New Horizon College, and Akash College of Engineering. The complainant is about allegations of "seat blocking" — an act that thwarts rightful admissions by reserving seats without any intention of filling them up. Investigation has now fast-tracked, with the police having filed a charge sheet in court.

Other grievances of the colleges are the recent Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids on all three campuses in the current investigation. The raids brought to the fore more about the supposed rigging of engineering course admissions.

In all this upheaval, BMS College had applied for the addition of 120 seats in Computer Science, while New Horizon College had applied for sanctioning 240 seats in Artificial Intelligence and 660 additional seats in Computer Science. While AICTE approved it based on online applications and documents, the final clearance is with the state — now stuck due to legal issues.

Technical Education department officials made it clear that proposals based on infrastructure and institutional compliance are considered by AICTE and Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU). "AICTE and VTU are not concerned with criminal cases and legal matters of scams. But the state government has to scrutinize all this before giving an NOC," clarified a senior officer.

Higher Education Minister Dr. M.C. Sudhakar, speaking to The Hindu, stated that the state is carefully examining the police charge sheet. "We are looking into the facts and will seek legal advice before deciding seat enhancement applications made by these colleges," he said.

The minister also expressed general apprehensions about unregulated growth in Computer Science and associated courses, particularly urban areas. "Private colleges are concentrated on expanding CS seats, and it's causing saturation of engineering colleges in tier-1 cities. This trend can lead to a higher percentage of unemployment of graduates," he cautioned.

To rectify the imbalance, the government plans to enact fresh legislation imbued with Telangana's regulatory mindset. "We are drafting a law to check indiscriminate expansion of seats and attain more balanced growth in technical training," Dr. Sudhakar said.