Banks unaware of govt order to grant admission to those without entrance appearance, deny loans

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The banks was unaware of the government's order to grant admission to those who did not write the entrance in the 130 engineering colleges in the state in the view of more than half of the seats lying vacant. Such admissions are denied loans. Banks are of the view that they will not get admission unless they qualify for the NRI quota.

The confusion would have been avoided if the government had informed the state level bankers committee.

At present, loans are sanctioned to those who have taken admission in government and self-financing engineering colleges with the condition that admission should be based on merit. In case of management quota, the condition is that the entrant has qualified.

From this year, those with 45 percent marks in Plus 2 were allowed admission for engineering without writing an entrance.

A student of Pattambi who could not write the entrance and got more than 80 percent marks in Plus Two, got admission in a self-financing college with a fee of Rs 70,000, but SBI and Canara Bank denied the loan. Many others have had the same experience.

In the lateral entry seats, direct admission is allowed to the second year (third semester) for those who do not qualify the entrance but the banks have not been informed even about that. The 'LET' qualification has been waived for those who have passed the Polytechnic Diploma. With this, polytechnic qualified candidates will get admission in the vacant seats after centralized allotment in engineering colleges.

Rs 7 lakhs without collateral

Loan up to 7 lakhs without collateral are sanctioned for educational purposes. This includes tuition fees, accommodation, travel and study material costs.

Banks will give loans considering the employability, entrance exam score and academic quality.

The Minority Commission has ordered that banks have no authority to determine academic eligibility criteria and should not deny loans on this basis.