Jadavpur University is planning to conduct its own counselling process for engineering admissions this year. The university authorities will soon write to the Principal Secretary of the Higher Education Department and the Director of Technical Education (DTE) to inform them of this decision.
The proposal was discussed and approved during an online meeting of the university’s executive committee on March 15. However, state government representative Gautam Pal opposed the move. He also serves as the Chairman of the State Joint Entrance Board and has submitted a formal note of dissent.
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Vice-Chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharya said, “This is a decision of the Faculty Council. We discussed it in the EC, and most members agreed. Now the Department of Higher Education will take the final call.”
According to sources from the Joint Entrance Board, any change in the existing admission process would require an amendment to the law through a bill in the Assembly.
As per current rules, the Joint Entrance Board conducts the exam, prepares a merit list and oversees centralised counselling for admissions to government and private institutions in three phases.
Gautam Pal objected to the university’s move, stating, “There is an interrelationship between counselling and the written examination. According to Section 2(8) of the Joint Entrance Examination Act, 2014, this examination is conducted. The university does not have the authority to change this rule. This decision is not lawful.”
On the other hand, University Registrar Selim Bux Mandal said, “The Faculty Council had already decided that the university would conduct counselling on its own. This decision was unanimously adopted in the executive committee. We will write to the government this week.”
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University authorities argue that delays in the Joint Entrance results last year, due to legal complications related to OBC reservation-led to the loss of several meritorious students. Even after centralised counselling, many seats remained vacant.
Notably, no student from the top 100 in the state Joint secured admission to Jadavpur University last year.
Except for Computer Science, no department admitted students from within the top 250 ranks. This has raised concerns within the university.
While the Faculty Council has no objections to the Joint Entrance Board conducting the examination, it wants to handle counselling independently to speed up admissions and ensure better intake based on merit.
