PUBLIC GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL

MECHANISM

IN

ALL INDIA COUNCIL FOR TEHNICAL EDUCATION

 All India Council for Technical Education-
Public Grievances Redressal Mechanism

What is Where?

Sl.No. ITEM Pages

1 Introduction 1

2. Types of Grievances 1-2

3. Director of Public Grievances 3

4. Public Grievances Cell 3-4

5. Duties of Public Grievances Officers 4-6

6. Procedure for registering grievances 6-8

7. Procedure to be adopted by AICTE Regional Offices for 8-10

dealing with Public Grievances.

8. Action to be taken by AICTE Headquarters 10

9. Staff Grievances Officer 10-11

10 Appendixes
12
I. Quarterly Report on Redressal of Public
Grievances.
13
II. Notice
14
III. Reminder
15
IV. Reply to programmes not coming under the
purview of AICTE/unapproved programmes.
16
V. Mandatory Disclosures.
17
VI. Forwarding of Grievances to Regional
Offices/Bureau concerned.
18
VII. Issues pertaining prior to Public Notice
i.e.19/04/2007
19-20
VIII. Public Notice No. AICTE/DPG/06(07)/2009
 PUBLIC GRIEVANCES REDRESSAL MECHANISM
IN
ALL INDIA COUNCIL FOR TECHNICAL EDUCATION

1. Introduction

Every organization must evolve a system for redressal of public

grievances arising from its work. Grievance redressal
mechanism should form an integral part of the machinery of any
organization. No organization can claim to be accountable,
responsible and user-friendly unless it has established an
efficient and effective grievance redressal system. In fact, the
grievances redressal mechanism of an organization is the guage
to measure its efficiency and effectiveness at it provides
important feedback on the working of the organization. It helps
the organization to deliver quality service to the public and other
stakeholders in a hassle free manner and in eliminating the
cause of grievances.

1.1 AICTE is having a larger public interface. Being a

regulatory body of the Government of India for co-ordinated
development of technical education it is all the more important
that a sound public grievances mechanism is established so as
to enable it to act as facilitator and regulator and to make the
organization more responsive to the needs of the people.

2. Types of Grievances
2.0 Grievances broadly fall in the following two categories:-
a) Public grievances in general.
b) Grievances pertaining to the staff of AICTE.
 2.1 Following types of grievances fall in the first category:
(i) Non-refund of fee by AICTE approved technical
institutions.
(ii) Non-return of original certificates.
(iii) Non-observation of laid down norms and
standards.
(iv) Delays in according approvals.
(v) Charging of capitation fee.
(vi) Complaints against officers and staff of the AICTE
approved technical institutions.
(vii) Non-refund of security amount.
(viii) Complaints against the officers and staff of AICTE.
(ix) Demand of gratification.
(x) Other similarly related matters.

2.2 The other category pertains to the grievances of members

of staff of AICTE and its regional offices, such as, non-
grant of leave, non-sanctioning of LTC advance, delay in
sanctioning of advances from provident fund, etc.

3. Director of Public An officer of the rank of Joint Secretary to Government

Grievances of India should be designated as Director of Public
[Director(PG)] Grievances who is vested with the powers to call for
files/papers relating to public grievances in cases in which a
decision is pending for more than a month and take a decision
with the approval of Chairman, AICTE even though the matter is
not within the normal scope of his duties.
4. Public Grievances Cell
4.1 All grievances are to be received by the Public
Grievances Cell (PG Cell). This cell will go through the
grievances received and send the grievances to the
concerned officer/Bureau/Regional Office for appropriate
action. The complainant is also informed about the name
and address of the officer and the Bureau/Regional office
to whom/which the complaint has been forwarded for
further action/redressal. Even in cases where the petition
does not contain a grievance and no action is warranted a
reply should be sent to the petitioner apprising him of the
factual position. It shall also be the duty of PG Cell to sift
general complaints/grievances from the complaints
involving vigilance angle. The complaints pertaining to
vigilance matters shall be forwarded to the Chief Vigilance
Officer for further action. Complaints pertaining to
personnel matter should be forwarded to Director(Admn.)
for redressal.

4.2 The PG Cell will also monitor the disposal of the

grievances received, through reports to be submitted by
all Bureaus and Regional Offices. Format of the quarterly
report for monitoring of the disposal of grievances is given
in Appendix-I. A draft specimen of forwarding the
grievance to the concerned officer/Regional office is
annexed as Appendix-II. In case the grievance is not
disposed of within the stipulated period, a reminder will be
sent in the format as in Appendix-III. In cases where the
grievance does not pertain to AICTE or does not fall within
the purview of AICTE the complainant should be informed
of same as in the specimen at Appendix-IV.
5. Duties of Public
Grievances Officers
5.1. For effective and efficient redressal, it shall be incumbent upon
the officers dealing with public grievances to
- Observe every Wednesday as a meetingless day in AICTE and
Director of Public Grievances should be available at his desk
between 10.00 a.m. and 01:00 p.m. to receive and hear public
grievances. Designated officers in Regional offices having
contact with public should also declare one day in the week as a
meetingless day and attend to the grievances of the public.

- Ensure the grievances are diarized through computer and

acknowledged promptly through a unique file identification
number for reference in future.

- Monitor the progress of disposal of the grievances.

- Fix time limit for disposal of the grievances.
- Deal with every grievance in a fair, objective and just
manner.
- Fix time norms/day for meeting the members of staff and for
dealing with various personnel matters such as processing of
claims, requests for advances, medical reimbursement, etc.
- Analyse the grievances to identify areas of recurrent grievances
and lay down norms to reduce such grievances.
- Devise all applications/proforma intended for public use
containing full instructions for filling in, clearly indicating all the
documents required to be submitted with the applications.
- Make available to the public copies of the schemes/services
indicating the procedure and manner in which these can be
availed of and the right authority to be contacted for service as
also the grievance redressal authority.
- Post the above information on AICTE web-site.
- Pick up grievances relating to AICTE appearing in newspapers
and take remedial action on them in a time bound manner.
 - Display the name, designation, room number, telephone number
of the Director of Public Grievances at the Reception and other
prominent places.
- Place a locked Complaint Box near the Reception.

- Issue instructions to the Receptionists permitting complainants

access to the Grievances Redressal Officer every Wednesday
from 10.00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
- Issue a reasoned and a speaking reply for every grievance
rejected.
- Set up Staff Grievance Redressal machinery and designate a
Staff Grievance Redressal Officer.
- Establish a Single Window System at points of public contact,
wherever possible, to facilitate disposal of applications.
5.2. In short, following steps should be taken to make the grievance
redressal mechanism more effective:
(i) Careful analysis of the grievances.
(ii) Taking of decision on grievances at a fairly senior
level.
(iii) Forwarding the grievance to the Bureau/Regional
office concerned for prompt action/redress.
(iv) Reply to the complainant informing him of the details
of authorities settling the grievance.
(v) Obtaining reply/report from the concerned
Bureau/Regional office within the stipulated period.
(vi) Sending a reasoned reply to the complainant if a
grievance cannot be settled.

6. Procedure for
registering grievances - As per AICTE norms and procedure, institutions
running AICTE programmes/courses must have a
Grievance Redressal Mechanism to redress the
grievances of students, staff and faculty members as per
Mandatory Disclosures given in the AICTE Approval
 Process Handbook under point No.16.1 “IV.
GOVERNANCE.
Grievance redressal mechanism for faculty, staff and
students”

- Since there is an inbuilt provision of redressal of

grievances of students, staff and faculty members of
AICTE approved institutions, students, staff and faculty
members of these institutions should use this inhouse
channel/mechanism for redressal of their grievances. In
the first instance they should make representation to the
institution concerned. They should approach AICTE only
if the institution does not address their grievance.

- No grievance relating to service matters of the employees

of the AICTE approved institutions, commercial contracts
or cases which are sub-judice or where quasi-judicial
procedures are prescribed for decision-making shall be
entertained.

- Grievances related to the policy matters or where a

grievance has already been disposed of at the level of
Chairman. AICTE shall not be entertained by Director of
Public Grievance.

- The concerned authority in AICTE/Regional office should

be approached for redressal of such grievances as are
not responded to by the Grievance Redressal Mechanism
of the concerned institution.

- All the complaints should be addressed to the respective

authorities. Complete postal address of the complainant in
capital letters alongwith PIN code and contact number
should invariably be indicated clearly in the
representation.
 - Aggrieved person(s)/other stakeholders should submit
their grievance(s) to the respective Regional Offices
alongwith all relevant documents and correspondence
made by them earlier. A Public Notice alongwith the
contact address and phone numbers(s) of the respective
Regional Office/authority in the AICTE indicating the
area/region/state covered by them will be publicised
posted on the website of AICTE (Appendix-VIII).

- Representations/grievances received at AICTE

Headquarters will be forwarded to the respective
Bureau/Regional offices for disposal in the manner as
indicated in Appendix-VI.

- Respective Bureau/Regional Office shall submit a monthly

report to the Director of Public Grievances at the
Headquarters in the following format:

No. of complaints Name and address of Whether disposed If not, reasons for
received the complainant(s) of pendency

7. Procedure to be adopted
by AICTE Regional Offices
for dealing with public
grievances.

(1) A unique computerized file number will be given to each

representation/grievance for monitoring of progress of
disposal, as under:-

AICTE/PG/Year/Number of Grievances/Regional Office(code)/

Category (code)
(2) The number of file thus generated could be:
AICTE/PG/2009/09/SRO/03
Here, AICTE – is the Symbol for All India Council for
Technical Education.
G - stands for Public Grievance.
09 - is the year of representation.
9 - is the complaint number received during that
year
SRO - is the code of the Regional Office viz. Southern
Regional Office, Chennai.
03 - is the category code of the grievance, say non-
refund of capitation fee.

(3) All Regional Offices will use this unique computerized file
no. for all references and take action as under:
(i) Despatch computer generated acknowledgment to
the complainant within two days of the receipt of
the complaint.
(ii) Scrutinize the representation/complaint and issue
Notice to the AICTE approved institution, as per
format given in Appendix-II, within 10 days of the
receipt giving 15 days time to the institution to
dispose of/settle the grievance.
(iii) Inform the complainant, as per format given in
Appendix-IV, if the grievance pertains to an
unapproved programme/course.
(iv) In case, the grievance pertains to a date prior to
the issue of the Public Notice i.e. 19/4/2007
regarding refund of fee, inform the complainant as
in format at Appendix-VII.
(v) If no response is received from the concerned
institute within the stipulated period, a reminder will
be sent as in Appendix-III urging upon them to
expedite the matter within 10 days.
 (vi) Final reminder will be issued if no response is
received within 10 days even after the issue of first
reminder.
(vii) Refer the matter to the concerned approval Bureau
with copies of all the relevant
documents/correspondence, with a copy endorsed
to the Director of Public Grievances at AICTE
Headquarters in case of non-refund of fee, non-
return of original certificates, etc. by the institute
even after the issue of final reminder.

8. Action to be taken by (i) On receipt of the complaint, the concerned approval

AICTE Headquarters. Bureau will take action and issue Show-cause Notice
to the institute concerned seeking compliance report.
(ii) The concerned approval Bureau will inform the Director of
Public Grievances of the compliance of AICTE instructions
regarding refund of fee and return of original certificates by
the institute concerned.
(iii) In case of non-compliance, proceedings for de- recognition
will be initiated.
(iv) Monitoring of resolving the grievances will be supervised
by Director (PG).

9. Staff Grievances Officer(SGO)

(i) An officer of the level of Joint Secretary will be designated
as Staff Grievances Officer. The name of the SGO will
notified/displayed for information of all concerned.
(ii) SGO will receive and settle the grievances of the staff of
AICTE.
(iii) Aggrieved staff may approach SGO with all the relevant
documents for redressal of their grievances.
(iv) SGO will be vested with powers to call for the relevant file
from the concerned Bureau in case the grievance of any
member of staff is not settled within the stipulated time
 frame and to take appropriate decision with the approval
of the Chairman, AICTE.
(v) All staff grievances shall be computerized.
(vi) Time norms shall be fixed for dealing with various
personnel matters such as processing of claims, requests
for advances, medical reimbursement, etc. and for
acknowledgment/disposal of staff grievances.
 Appendix-I

Quarterly Report on Redressal of Public Grievances

Bureau/Regional Office…………………………..
Quarter ended……………………………………..

No. of Grievances Notice(s) Issued or No. of Grievances No. of Grievances

Received Not, if not reasons Resolved Pending Settlement
 Appendix-II
NOTICE
F.NO………………………………
Dated:………………………..……
To
The Director
_____________
_____________
_____________

Sub: Return of Original Certificates and Refund of fee- regarding.

Sir,
I am directed to enclose herewith a representation dated ___________ (Photocopy annexed _____
pages) from Shri _________________________ regarding_________________ submitted by him in your
institute in __________________ course. However, he subsequently withdrew admission from your institute.

Kindly take note that AICTE has been empowered under Section 10(n) of AICTE Act to “take all
necessary steps to prevent commercialization of technical education”. Non-refund of fee and non-return of
original certificates subsequent upon a student not continuing with the course, amounts to commercialization
of education.

You are therefore advised to consider the refund of fee submitted in your institute in respect of Shri
____________________ at the earliest possible and latest by _____________ . You are also advised to refer
to the Public Notice issued by AICTE vide Advertisement No.DPG/06(02)/2009 (copy enclosed). You are also
advised to refer to the Public Notice issued by AICTE vide Advertisement No.DPG/06/(02)/2009 (copy
enclosed).

A report on the action taken by the institute may please be sent to this office within 15 days.

Director (PG)
Encl: a/a

Copy to:

(1) Applicant He is advised to get in touch with the institute to get

____________________ the matter resolved. He is requested to be in touch
____________________ to our Regional Officer ______________ to get the
redressal of your grievance Ph.No._____________.

(2) The Regional Officer, with a request to take appropriate action and also
____________________ make ensure that the above matter may be get
____________________ resolved from the above institution as per provision
____________________ made in the above Public Notice. Action taken/reply
may be obtained and take appropriate action to
resolve the grievance of Shri ____________ in
respect of__________.

Director(PG)
 Appendix-III

REMINDER
To
The Director
___________________________
___________________________
___________________________

Sub: Representation of

Sir,
I am directed to refer to this Council’s letter of even No. dated _________________.
Action taken on the representation of __________________________________ regarding
refund of fee has not yet been received in this office. It is once again reminded that the
same may be submitted at the earliest latest by ______________________ 2009 positively.

Yours faithfully,

Director(PG)
Encl:- a/a

Copy to:
(1) Applicant He is advised to get in touch with the institute to
____________________ the matter resolved.
____________________
____________________

(2) The Regional Officer, with a request to take appropriate action and
____________________ also make ensure that the above matter may
____________________ be get resolved from the above institution as
____________________ per provision made in the above Public Notice.
Action taken/reply may be obtained and
forwarded to Director of Public Grievances,
AICTE.

Director(PG)
 Appendix-IV

NOT COMING UNDER THE PURVIEW OF AICTE/UNAPPROVED PROGRAMMES

F.No…………………
Dated:……………….

To

________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________

Sir,

It is in reference to your letter dated _______________ vide which you have

submitted you representation regarding _________________________ . This is to inform
you that ____________ course is not coming under the purview of AICTE. As such AICTE
may not be in a position to take any action on your representation.

Yours faithfully,

Director (PG)
 Appendix-V

MANDATORY DISCLOSURES

16.1 ENGINEERING/TECHNOLOGY/PHARMACY/PROGRAMMES.
The following information is to be given in the information Brochure besides being hosted on the
Institution official Website.
“The information has been provided by the concerned institution and the onus of authenticity lies with
the institution and not on AICTE.”
I. NAME OF THE INSTITUTION
 Address including telephone, Fax, e-mail.

II. NAME & ADDRESS OF THE DIRECTOR

 Address including telephone, fax, e-mail.

III. NAME OF THE AFFILIATING UNIVERSITY

IV. GOVERNANCE
 Members of the Board and their brief background
 Members of Academic Advisory Body
 Frequency of the Board Meetings and Academic Advisory Body
 Organizational chart and processes
 Nature and Extent of involvement of faculty and students in academic affairs/improvements.
 Mechanism/Norms & Procedure for democratic/good Governance
 Student Feedback on Institutional Governance/faculty performance
 Grievance redressal mechanism for faculty, staff and students.

V. PROGRAMMES
♦ Name of the Programmes approved by the AICTE
♦ Name of the Programmes accredited by the AICTE
♦ For each Programme the following details are to be given:
♦ Name
♦ Number of seats
♦ Duration
♦ Cut off mark/rank for admission during the last three days
♦ Fee
♦ Placement Facilities
♦ Campus Placement in last three years with minimum salary, maximum salary and average salary
 Appendix-VI

NO………………………
All India Council for Technical Education
7th Floor, Chanderlok Building,
Janpath, New Delhi, the…………

To
The Regional Officer,
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________

Subject: Grievance received from ________________________ regarding return of

original certificates.

Sir,
I am directed to forward herewith, in original, the complaint dated _____________ received
from ___________________________ regarding non-return of original certificates by ___________
(name of the institute) with a request to take appropriate action and to ensure that the grievance is
resolved as per the provisions in the Public Notice No. AICTE/DPG/06(02)/2009. Monthly and
Quarterly Reports in the prescribed proforma may be submitted to the AICTE Headquarters
regularly.

Yours faithfully,

Director(PG)

Encl: As above.
Copy to:

(The Complainant) He is requested to get in touch with the institute concerned

to get his grievance resolved. He is also requested to get
in touch with the Regional Office of AICTE for the redressal
of his grievance.
 Appendix-VII

Prior to issuance of 1st Public Notice

i.e.19-4-2007

F.No………………………...
Date…………………………

To
________________________
________________________
________________________

Sub: Refund of Fee

Dear Sir,

Kindly refer to your representation preferred to All India Council for Technical
Education (AICTE).

Having perused your representation, it is made out that it raises issues that pertain to
a date prior to the date of the issuances of Public Notice by the AICTE. As such, AICTE is
not in a position to take cognizance of your representation

It is for favour of your kind information please.

Yours faithfully,

Director(PG)
 Appendix- VIII

ALL INDIA COUNCIL FOR TECHNICAL EDUCATION

(A statutory Body of the Government of India)
th
7 Floor, Chanderlok Building, Janpath, New Delhi-110 001
Ph.011-23724151-57 Website: www.aicte.ernet.in

Advt. No. AICTE/DPG/06(02)/2009

PUBLIC NOTICE

ATTENTION TO AICTE APPROVED TECHNICAL INSTITUTIONS, REGARDING MATTERS

CONCERNING REFUND OF FEES, RETURN OF ORIGINAL CERTIFICATES AND OTHER
STUDENTS RELATED ISSUES

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has been empowered interalia under section 10(n)
of AICTE Act to “take all necessary steps to prevent commercialization of technical education”. In
compliance with the provisions under AICTE Act and in the light of directions of Govt. of India issued
under section 20(1) of AICTE Act vide Letter No.(U.1 (A) Section), it has been decided to issue
instructions to the AICTE approved Technical Institutions, in the matters concerning students.

Whereas it has come to the notice of the AICTE that AICTE approved Technical Institutions are
admitting students to technical education programmes long before the actual starting of an academic
session; collecting full fee from the admitted students: and, retaining their school institution’s leaving
certificates in original:

And whereas, Institutions are also reportedly confiscating the fee paid if a student fails to join by
such dates.

And Whereas, certificates in original are being detained by institutions to force retention of admitted
students:

And, whereas the time limit for students to join the courses/programmes is also being advanced in
some cases unrealistically so as to pre-empt students/candidates from exercising other options of
joining other institutions of their choice.

In the event of a student/candidate withdrawing before the starting of the courses, the wait listed
candidates should be given admission against the vacant seat. The entire fee collected from the
student, after a deduction of the processing fee of not more than Rs.1000/- (Rupees on thousand
only, shall be refunded and returned by the Institution to the student/candidate withdrawing from the
programme. It would not be permissible for Institutions to retain the School Institution Leaving
Certificates in original. Should a student leave after joining the course and if the seat consequently
falling vacant has been filled by another candidate by the last date of admission, the Institution must
return the fee collected with proportionate deductions of monthly fee and proportionate hostel rent,
wherever applicable.
Any violation of instructions issue by the AICTE, shall call for punitive action including withdrawal of
approval and recognition of erring institutions. AICTE shall on its own or on receipt of specific
complaints from those affected shall take all such steps as may be necessary to enforce these
directions.

Aggrieved parents/students are advised to contact/communication in this regard to:

(1) The Regional Officer, AICTE – CRO, Tagore Hostel 2, Shamla Hills, Bhopal-462 002
(Ph.No.0755-2660061 & 2660065 (Fax No.0755-2660062). (For Madhya Pradesh and
Gujarat only).

(2) The Regional Officer, AICTE-ERO, LB Block Sector-III, College of Leather Technology
Campus, Salt Lake City, Kolkata-700 091 (Ph.No.033-23357459, 23352445, 23353089 &
23357312 (Fax No.033-23359546 and 23356690). (For Andaman & Nicobar, Assam,
Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Orissa,
Jharkhand and West Bengal only).

(3) The Regional Officer, AICTE-NRO, Govt. Polytechnic Campus, Adjoining Directorate of
Tech. Edu. Office, Vikas Nagar, Zoo Road, Kanpur-208 024 (Ph.No.0512-2585012, 2585014
& 2585018 (Fax No.0512-2582180) (For Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal only)

(4) The Regional Officer, AICTE-NWRO, Plot No.1310, Sector 42-B, Chandigarh-160 036
(Ph.No.0172-2613326 & 2661201 (Fax No.0172-2660179) (for Chandigarh, Haryana,
Jammu & Kashmir, New Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh only).

(5) The Regional Officer, AICTE –SRO, Shastri Bhawan, 26 Haddows Road, Chennai-600 006
(Ph. No.044-28279998, 28275650, & 28232754 (Fax No.044-28255863) (For Tamil Nadu
and Pondicherry only)

(6) The Regional Officer, AICTE, SWRO, Health Centre Building, Bangalore University Campus,
Bangalore-560 009 (Ph. No.080-22205979, 22205919 & 22208407 (Fax. No. 080-
22253232). (For Karnataka, Lakshadweep and Kerala Only).

(7) The Regional Officer, AICTE-WRO, 2nd Floor, Industrial Assurance Building V.N. road, Opp.
Churchgate Rly. Station, Churchgate, Mumbai-400 020 (Ph.022-22855412 & 22821093 (Fax
No. 022-22851551). (For Goa, Maharashtra, Daman & Diu only)

(8) The Regional Officer, AICTE-SCRO, First Floor, Old Bicard Building, Jawaharlal Nehru
Technological University, Massab Tank, Hyderabad-500 076 (Ph. No. 040-23340113,
23341036 & 23345071 (Fax No.040-23340113). (Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Only).

Member Secretary