Chapter IV PERMISSION, AFFILIATION, CONFERRING AUTONOMOUS STATUS AND EQUIVALENCE

1. (1) The management applying for affiliation and management whose institution has been granted affiliation for a period specified, shall give and comply with the following undertakings,-
   • (a) that the provisions of the Act and regulations made thereunder and the standing orders and directions of the Board shall be observed ;
   • (b) that there shall be a separate local managing committee provided for an affiliated institution ;
   • (c) that the number of students admitted for courses of study shall not exceed the limits prescribed by the Board and the Government, from time to time;
   • (d) that there shall be suitable and adequate physical facilities such as buildings, laboratories, libraries, books, equipment and machineries required for teaching and research, hostels, gymnasium, as may be prescribed by regulations ;
   • (e) that the financial resources of the institution shall be such as to make due provision for its continued maintenance and working ;
   • (f) that the qualifications of teaching staff of the affiliated recognised institutions shall be such as prescribed by the Board and which shall be sufficient to make due provision for courses of study, teaching or training efficiently ;
   • (g) that the services of all teaching and non-teaching employees and the facilities of the institution to be affiliated, shall be made available for conducting examinations and assessments and for promoting other activities of the Board;
   • (h) that the directions and orders issued by the Chairperson and other officers of the Board, in exercise of the powers conferred on them under the provisions of the Act and regulations made thereunder, shall be complied with ;
     • (i) that there shall be no change or transfer of the management without previous permission of the Board ;
   • (j) that institution shall not be closed without previous permission of the Board ;
   • (k) that in the event of disaffiliation or de-recognition or closure of the institution under section 35 or 39, as the case may be, all the assets the institution, including buildings and equipments which have been constructed or created out of the amount paid as a grant-in-aid by the Government, shall vest in the Government.
2. (2) No institution which is part of another Board shall be considered for affiliation unless a "No Objection Certificate" is given by the parent Board.

1. (1) The management seeking permission to open a new institution shall apply in the prescribed form to the Member-Secretary of the Board as per the time schedule declared by the Board, from time to time.
2. (2) All such applications received within the aforesaid prescribed time limit, shall be scrutinized and physically inspected by the committee constituted by the Board and be forwarded to the Government.
3. (3) Out of the applications recommended by the Board, the Government may grant the permission as it may consider right and proper in its absolute discretion on the basis of the suitability of the management seeking permission to open new institution and the State level priorities with regard to location of institutions of Vocational Education and Training, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Education : Provided that, in exceptional cases and for the reasons to be recorded in writing, any application not recommended by the Board may be approved by the Government for starting of a new institution of Vocational Education and Training, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Education.
4. (4) No application shall be entertained directly by the Government for the grant of permission for opening any new institution.

1. (1) On receipt of the permission from the Government under section 29, the Board shall consider grant of first time affiliation to the new institution by following the prescribed procedure given in sub-section (2) and after taking into account whether and the extent to which the stipulated conditions have been fulfilled by the institution. The decisions of the Board in this regard shall be final.
2. (2) For considering the application for the grant of affiliation, the Board shall cause an inquiry by a committee constituted for the purpose by it.
3. (3) The Board shall decide,-
   • (a) whether affiliation should be granted or rejected ;
   • (b) whether affiliation should be granted in whole or part;
   • (c) subjects, courses of study and the number of students to be admitted ;
   • (d) conditions, if any, which may be stipulated while granting the affiliation.
4. (4) The Member-Secretary shall communicate the decision of the Board to the management of the institute with a copy to the Government, and if the application for affiliation is granted, along with an intimation regarding,-
   • (a) the subjects and the courses of study approved for affiliation ;
   • (b) the number of students to be admitted ;
   • (c) the conditions, if any, subject to the fulfilment of which the approval is granted.
5. (5) The procedure referred to in section 29 shall apply, mutatis mutandis, for the permission to open new courses, additional courses, new subjects and additional divisions.
6. (6) No student shall be admitted by the institution unless the first time affiliation has been granted by the Board.
7. (7) The procedure referred to in sub-sections (1) to (4) shall apply, mutatis mutandis, for the consideration of continuation of affiliation, from time to time.

The affiliated institution may apply for continuation of affiliation for the courses of study for which affiliation was granted ordinarily six months prior to the date of expiry of such affiliation. The Board shall follow the procedure specified in sections 28, 29 and 30, so far as applicable for grant of affiliation.

The affiliated institution may apply for affiliation for additional courses of study. The Board shall follow the procedure as specified in sections 28, 29 and 30, so far as may be applicable for grant of affiliation.

The affiliated institution with at least six years standing as an affiliated institution may apply for permanent affiliation. The Board shall consider and scrutinize the application and if satisfied that the affiliated institution has fulfilled all the conditions of affiliation satisfactorily, and has attained high academic and administrative standards as prescribed by the Board, from time to time, the Board shall grant permanent affiliation to the institution.

1. (1) Every affiliated institution shall furnish such reports, returns and other particulars as the Board may require for enabling it to judge the academic standard and standards of academic administration of the institution.
2. (2) The Director shall cause every affiliated institution to be inspected, in every academic year by one or more Committees appointed by him in that behalf.

1. (1) If an affiliated institution fails to comply with the conditions of affiliation as provided in section 28, the Board may issue a notice to the management to show cause as to why the privileges conferred on the institution by affiliation should not be withdrawn in part or in whole or modified.
2. (2) The Board shall mention the grounds on which it proposes to take the above-mentioned action and shall send a copy of the notice to the principal or the head of institution. It shall specify in the notice, the period, which shall not be less than thirty days within which the management should file its written statement in reply to the notice.
3. (3) On receipt of such statement or on expiry or the period specified in the notice issued under sub-section (1), the Board shall take suitable action for withdrawal or modification of such privileges.
4. (4) The Board shall, having regard to the interest of students studying in the institution, recommend to the Government the action to be taken in this behalf and the Government shall, thereafter, proceed to implement the recommendations.

1. (1) The recognized institution considering itself eligible for academic autonomous status shall apply to the Secretary of Board on or before the 31st August of the year preceding the year from which the academic autonomous status is applied for in the form, as prescribed by the Board.
2. (2) The Secretary shall place the applications before the Academic Committee and the Committee shall scrutinize the applications and decide, whether there is a prima facie case for consideration of such application. If the Academic Committee decides that there is a prima facie case, it shall conduct a local enquiry by way of discussion with head of institute, staff and students of institute.
3. (3) The local enquiry shall be on the point under criteria and to assess whether facilities exist as per norms and standards and the institution has secured minimum required accreditations and adequate financial capacity, etc., wherever specified and additional information that the Committee may find necessary.
4. (4) The Secretary of the Board shall place the application and the report of the Academic Committee for scrutiny of application and local enquiry before the Board in its meeting, which shall pass a resolution recording whether the report be accepted or rejected. If the Board rejects the application and report by majority or unanimously and decides not to recommend conferment of autonomous status, it shall record the reasons therefor. If the Board proposes to grant the application and recommend conferment of academic autonomous status, it shall pass a resolution to that effect and specify the conditions subject to which academic autonomous status shall be conferred.
5. (5) The Secretary of the Board shall submit within a period of one month to the Secretary, Skill Development, Employment and Entrepreneurship Department of Government such recommendations of the Board along with a copy of the resolution and such other records to be decided by the Board, for approval.
6. (6) On receiving approval from the Government for conferment of academic autonomous status on the applicant institute, the Secretary of the Board shall inform the institute concerned, the matter in writing with conditions, if any.
7. (7) Rejection of conferment of academic autonomous status is also to be intimated to the concerned institute. The activities in sub-sections (1) to (7) are to be completed within ten months from the last date of receipt of the application for conferment of an autonomy.
8. (8) Any guidelines, rules, regulations, etc., on academic autonomous status provided by Central and State Government, from time to time, shall become applicable to the institute seeking academic autonomous status and to the institute on which the academic autonomous status is already conferred.

1. (1) The institutions granted academic autonomous status shall be required to obtain equivalence for their courses and programmes from the Board.
2. (2) The autonomous institutions shall get their curriculum, teaching and examination scheme approved by the Board, from time to time.
3. (3) The Board shall carry out inspection of such autonomous institutions in every year.
4. (4) The Board shall monitor all academic, assessment and examination related activities of the autonomous institutions such as curriculum, teaching and examination scheme, teaching hours, academic schedule, eligibility of candidate to appear for the examination and assessment, etc.
5. (5) The Governing Body and other committees of autonomous institutions shall have representative from the Board on such committees.
6. (6) The Board shall grant equivalence for the purpose of employment to any certificate, diploma, post diploma, advance diploma, or any such programme conducted by any Government recognized institute under any similar Board or university or any examination authority located in Maharashtra, outside Maharashtra or outside India on the basis of scrutiny of curriculum.
7. (7) The Board shall, wherever necessary obtain equivalence for any certificate, diploma, advance diploma, or any such programme conducted by the Board from any similar board, college, university or any other Examination Authority within or outside India.
8. (8) The Board shall issue eligibility certificate on the basis of equivalence granted to any course or programme.

The Board on receipt of complaint or suo-moto after conducting an enquiry and after being heard by issuing show cause notice is satisfied that the institutions granted autonomy failed to comply with the conditions as provided in sections 35 and 36 and has failed to attain high academic and administrative standards as prescribed by the Board, from time to time, it shall recommend to the Government to withdraw the autonomous status of the institute and the decision of the Government thereon shall be final and binding.

1. (1) No management of an institution shall be allowed to close down the institution without prior permission of the Government.
2. (2) It shall be the sole responsibility of the management desirous of closing down the institution to settle all types of liabilities, financial or otherwise, including and related to teaching and nonteaching staff of such institutions and the Government or Board shall not be liable for such responsibilities at any stage.
3. (3) The management desires of closing down the institution shall apply to the Board on or before the last day of April of the preceding year, stating fully the grounds for closure, and pointing out the assets in the form of building and equipments, their original costs, the prevailing market value and the grants so for received by it from the Government or from public funding agencies.
4. (4) On receipt of such an application, the Board shall cause to make enquiries as it may deem fit, to assess and determine whether the institution be permitted to effect the closure. The Board may, examine whether the closure should be avoided by providing necessary assistance or taking over of the institute by the Government or transferring it to another management.
5. (5) If the Board decides to recommend the closure, it shall prepare and submit to the Government, a report on the extent of damages or compensation to be recovered from the management and whether the assets created utilising the funds provided by the Government or other public funding agencies, be transferred to the Government or other management, and the payment of compensation to the teachers and the staff retrenched.
6. (6) If the Board has recommended the closure of the affiliated institution, the Government may issue the order for closure.
7. (7) If the Government decides to take over the institution or transfer the same to another management, the procedure to be followed shall be such, as may be prescribed by the Government.
8. (8) The procedure to effect the closure shall be in phases, so as to ensure that the students already admitted to the institution are not affected, and that the first year shall be closed first and no new admissions shall be effected. The procedure to phase out the closure shall be such, as may be prescribed by the Government.