Varsity defers semester test

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 30
The West Bengal University of Technology (WBUT) has deferred its first semester exam until further notice. Though the varsity has not come up with an explanation, sources in the state higher education department pointed out that many private engineering colleges have misused the management quota and admitted students beyond the permissible number. The university however has denied any botch-up.
While the higher education department is likely to ask WBUT vice-chancellor A. R. Thakur the reasons behind deferring the examination, around 25,000 students would be affected. “Due to some unavoidable circumstances we are deferring the exam. Our academic council will convene next week to announce the alternative dates and we will ensure that the exam is conducted at the earliest,” WBUT registrar S.R. Islam said.
This was the first year when the state government had allowed private engineering colleges to admit 10 per cent of its students under management quota directly, instead of taking them through centralised counselling. The rider, however, was that all students taking admission under management quota would have to be in the merit list of the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (WBJEE).
This year, WBJEE had published a merit list of 45,000 students, all of whom were given rank cards. According to WBUT rules, students applying for registration under the university would also have to submit their rank cards as proof that they featured in the WBJEE merit list.
University sources said there were problems over issuing registration numbers to students due to the unavailability of their rank cards. This resulted in rescheduling of the first semester examination, although the third, fifth and seventh exams would be held as per schedule. According to sources, the problem with registration has cropped up in computer science, information technology and electronics.
Earlier this week, the heads of some private engineering colleges informed the higher education department that they had admitted excess students this year. However, they had requested the government to allow these students to sit for the exams. According to the rule, all private engineering colleges in the state have to send a list of the candidates admitted along with their ranks in WBJEE to the West Bengal University of Technology. Now questions are being raised if the varsity failed to check the admission of illegal candidates.
Even the SFI has been stressing on transparency in the admission process, followed by private engineering colleges. “We have repeatedly urged the university to publish the list of candidates admitted in the private engineering colleges along with their ranks in WBJEE. If that is done then the admission process in the management quota would become clear,” SFI state president Sudip Sengupta said.
While there are allegations that some of the private engineering colleges might have admitted students who did not qualify in WBJEE under the management quota, many students have complained to the student body that these colleges have denied 10 percent of its needy students half fee waiver and five percent students full fee waiver as fixed by the state government, while introducing 10 percent management quota.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com