” Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association assistant secretary: The wider industry impact

Protest against new WBJEE decision on engineering admission

A petition with over 2,500 signatures urged WBJEEB to revise the rules as “the current system allows lower-rank applicants to fill these premium spots, which devalues the hard-earned merit of those who successfully navigated the competitive entrance process. Our purpose is to distribute seats fairly so that every eligible candidate gets the chance to study BTech.

They called the move “against the laws of natural justice”. “It is highly objectionable and goes against the laws of natural justice,” said JU VC Bhattacharjee. Echoing Bhattacharjee, a CU official said, “What the board has said doesn’t make sense as a student cannot be denied the right to education. The state higher education department, however, is sticking to the stand, as the decision was arrived at reportedly after experiencing “numerous anomalies in the past”. An official from the department said, “Why should students be deprived? The parent of a candidate, seeking engineering admission, also called the new move “completely against the laws of natural justice as it violated the WBJEE rank order”. “Were the students told about the restrictions during the centralised counselling rounds? Rules cannot be changed midway through the process. ” Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association assistant secretary Arindam Sil said, “Bypassing higher-rank students to grant opportunities to lower-rank candidates goes directly against the principles of natural justice.

Kolkata: Jadavpur University (JU) VC Chiranjib Bhattacharjee, officials of Calcutta University (CU), along with teachers, students and their guardians, raised objections to the notice from the West Bengal Joint Entrance Exam Board that candidates, who accepted seats and took admission after participating in centralised counselling rounds, could not participate in the decentralised counselling for vacant BTech seats. “I have already communicated my objections to the directorate of technical education and will also write to the higher education department. I have been flooded with emails from students, requesting me to intervene. A premier institute, like JU, which is trying to compete with the IITs, will suffer the most. JU will lose out on promising students. How can a decentralised system be centralised? Several students, who were waiting for the decentralised system, are disappointed. We urge the higher education department and the JEE Board to have a rethink. Those who enrolled in BTech programmes must have chosen subjects that they wanted to study. Some students consistently block seats, narrowing the opportunities for lower-rank candidates. Were they informed that once they chose a seat in a subject at an institute, he or she would not be allowed to upgrade? In the name of filling seats, isn’t this a grave injustice to high-rankers as well as to the institutes?”

Previously, engineering institutes conducted decentralised counselling independently to fill seats, left vacant after the earlier board’s centralised counselling rounds.