The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has pulled up technical institutions that do not have grievance redressal committees and asked them to set up such panels soon or face action.

The AICTE (Establishment of Mechanism for Grievance Redressal) Regulations 2012 provide for establishment of a grievance redressal committee (GRC) in each technical institution approved by the regulatory body and appointment of an ombudsman by affiliating universities for grievance redressal.

"It has come to the notice of the AICTE that some of the affiliating universities have not yet appointed the ombudsman as well as GRC for all institutions," a letter written to all vice-chancellors of affiliating universities said.

"It is therefore once again requested to the vice chancellors of the affiliating universities to comply with the regulations of the AICTE and appoint the ombudsman and GRC for all affiliated institutions at the earliest," it said.

As per Clause 5 of the AICTE regulations, each technical institution is supposed to establish a registry, headed by an employee of the concerned institution where an aggrieved student or person can send their representation for redressal of their grievance.

The procedure is to be followed strictly by each of the technical institutions.

They are required to publish detailed information, including name, addresses etc. regarding constitution of the GRC, the ombudsman and its registry etc. on their website, prospectus and notice boards for wide publicity.

All aggrieved students, their parents and others may approach the GRC of the institution on the first instance and if they are not satisfied with the decision of the committee, they may send their appeal to the ombudsman directly.

According to the rules, the ombudsman exercises its powers to hear those grievances and ensures its disposal within a month for speedy redressal of grievances.

"All technical institutions will have to comply with the order of the ombudsman," the letter said.

"Any order of the omnudsman not complied with by the institution and any willful or repeated failure to comply with orders of the Ombudman, AICTE may proceed to take action against such institutions as per clause 7 of the above said regulations," it added.