Union Cabinet gives approval to five new IITs

New Delhi:  Five new IITs will come up at Tirupati, Palakkad, Dharwar, Bhilai, Goa and Jammu while ISM Dhanbad will also be upgraded to an IIT. The Union Cabinet which met today gave its ex post facto approval to amend The Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 for incorporation of new IITs at Tirupati (AP), Palakkad (Kerala), Dharwar (Karnataka), Bhilai (Chhattisgarh), Goa, Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir) and conversion of Indian School of Mines (ISM), Dhanbad to an IIT under the law. "The approval will bring six new Indian Institutes of Technology within the ambit of The Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 and declaring them as the institutions of national importance," an official statement said here. The amendment will also help convert ISM, Dhanbad into an IIT by bringing it into the ambit of the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961. The Cabinet also gave ex post facto approval to set up NIT, Andhra Pradesh which has been registered as a Society under the Andhra Pradesh Societies Registration Act, 2001. The Cabinet also approved introduction of a bill – the National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, 2016 for inclusion of the NIT, Andhra Pradesh in its first schedule, another statement said. "The proposed amendments to the NITSER Act, 2007 will ensure a high level of public accountability and increased participation of the stakeholders in the administration and academic activities of the Institute," the statement said.