New Delhi: The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has issued notices to 279 institutions found to be running without statutory approvals, Rajya Sabha was told on Thursday.


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In a written reply to a question, HRD Minister Smriti Irani said the notices have been issued to the institutions to close down programmes or fulfill the mandatory requirements and approach AICTE for approval.


Responding to another question, Irani said there is no provision in AICTE Act for blacklisting higher education institutions.


She, however, said in case norms are not followed action can be taken, including suspension of approval for supernumerary seats, no admission status in respective courses for one academic year, withdrawal of approval in the respective course, reduction in seats intake, withdrawal of approval of the institution and its closure.


"121 such technical institutions have been closed during 2015-16," she said.


In response to another question, the HRD minister said that as per an independent survey commissioned by it in 2014, 60.64 lakh children were out of school in the age group 6 to 13 years.