Chandigarh: The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is considering a request by some states for not granting permission for new technical institutions, an official said here.

AICTE chairman S.S. Mantha said that a few state governments had written to AICTE seeking a halt to new engineering colleges in their states.

The states pointed out that already thousands of seats were lying vacant in institutions, Mantha told the media.

Mantha said the AICTE, which supervises scores of technical and management institutes, was planning to cancel the affiliation of institutions not maintaining standards.

"The field of technical education offers a lot of scope and we always encourage colleges that have potential to deliver. At the same time, we are very cautious about the mushrooming of sub-standard colleges."