The Presidency College authorities on Tuesday rolled back their plan to scrap admission tests in some departments.

Students will be admitted in the 17 departments of the college this year the same way as last year. The process is scheduled to start on June 2.

A committee, however, will review the entire procedure, including the proposal of doing away with admission tests. The review committee, to be constituted by the college authorities, will start work in July.

“I strongly feel that admission tests should be retained in all the 17 departments to ensure quality and excellence,” said principal Sanjib Ghosh.

The college last month decided to scrap admission tests in six departments — Bengali, sociology, statistics, mathematics, geology and philosophy — accepting a proposal by a section of teachers.

The statistics and sociology departments reinstated the tests, following protests from students and alumni. Former students and academicians insisted that the college authorities hold admission tests in the other four departments too.

The decision to hold admission tests this year was taken at a meeting of Presidency’s teachers’ council on Tuesday afternoon.

“For 37 to 38 years, admission tests have been conducted by the departments for undergraduate admission. Students selected through the rigorous process have excelled in their respective fields. There are figures to prove the merit of admission tests,” said Ghosh at the meeting.

He rejected the argument that admission tests undermine the board examination, saying that equal importance is given to an applicant’s Class XII result and his performance in the entrance test.

The principal also said the entrance tests did not delay the admission process.

The state government, which controls the college, had sought a report from the authorities on why they wanted to scrap the admission tests.

“The government is not happy with the reasons cited by the teachers who wanted to scrap the admission tests,” said a senior official in the state higher education department.

According to a college source, most of the teachers in the Bengali, mathematics, geology and philosophy departments still want the entrance examinations scrapped.

They feel that admission on the basis of board examination marks is more transparent. They have also argued that the teachers do not get enough time to evaluate the answer scripts of the entrance tests properly.