New Delhi, Oct 1 (IANS) The Supreme Court Thursday paved the way for the Andhra Pradesh government to run the evening shift of three-year engineering diploma courses, putting aside objections from private colleges.
A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice B.S. Chauhan, suspended the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s Aug 18 order, which had halted the admission process for the evening shift of diploma courses in the state’s polytechnics and engineering colleges.
The high court ruling was on a bunch of lawsuits by private polytechnic management associations and the Chilakalapudi-based Varalakshmi Polytechnic of Machlipatnam.
The private polytechnic colleges had contended that starting a second shift of diploma courses in the existing polytechnics and engineering colleges would spell doom for their business.
They apprehended that with the state running the diploma courses in evening shifts, the students would prefer the government-run engineering colleges for their studies.
Heeding to their plea, a single judge bench of the high court halted the state government’s move on July 9, which was then vacated by a division bench of the high court. But the division bench later halted the admission process on Aug 18.