The decision is expected to receive the VC’s approval in the meeting of the university’s
working council scheduled for July 15.
The state government on Friday issued a circular exempting
Jadavpur University (JU) and Bengal Engineering and Science University (Besu) from
having to fill their vacant engineering seats by lowering the admission bar.
“JU and Besu will be exempted from filling their vacant seats," said Satish Tiwary,
the principal secretary of higher education. "The circulars will soon be sent to
the two universities." The exemption, however, has been granted only for the current
year, the official added.
The decision was welcomed by the two universities. "We are thankful to the government
for allowing us to keep our seats vacant," said Besu vice-chancellor Ajoy Roy.
"We welcome the move as we are looking forward to working together with the government
to achieve excellence."
P. N. Ghosh, the JU vice-chancellor, hailed the government's move. "We are happy
that the government has considered our appeal," he said.
On Monday, at a meeting with the deans and registrars of the two institutions, the
government had indicated that it might issue such an order. This year, there are
57 engineering seats vacant at JU and 28 at Besu.
The government had earlier asked all private and state aided engineering colleges
to fill the vacancies by offering a chance to those students who had cleared the
WBJEE but did not attend counselling. In case seats still remained vacant, they
were to give a chance to those who had cleared the All India Engineering Entrance
Examination but not attended counselling.
If both these options were exhausted and seats still remained vacant, students who
had passed their Plus II board exams with a minimum of 45 per cent marks had to
be admitted. The order had caused resentment at JU and Besu, with the authorities
feeling that their academic standards would fall if they admitted students of low
merit.
Courtesy: Telegraph India
