Jadavpur University could not begin undergraduate admissions on Thursday either, as it is still awaiting legal opinion on Calcutta High Court’s stay on OBC reservations, a varsity official said.
JU had earlier announced that it would start accepting online application forms from June 18, along with 461 government and aided colleges across Bengal through the state-run admission portal.
Admission through the portal entered Day 2 on Thursday, but JU is yet to begin the process.
When asked about the delay, pro-vice-chancellor Amitabha Dutta said on Thursday evening: “We are hopeful of starting the admission process on Friday. The system is ready.”
Earlier in the day, JU’s acting registrar Indrajit Banerjee said the admission process would begin in the second half of Thursday, following receipt of the legal opinion.
“But since the legal opinion had not yet been received, the process could not be started. If the opinion arrives late on Thursday or early Friday, JU’s admissions committee will meet, and the process can begin,” said a JU official.
The JU administration has put the admission process on hold after a division bench of Calcutta High Court on Tuesday issued an interim stay on a June 8 state government notification identifying the categories eligible for OBC reservations in education and jobs.
Manojit Mandal, former English department head and a representative of the state higher education council on JU’s executive council, said it was not clear why the university had put the admissions on hold when the process has been going on unhindered at 461 government and aided colleges.
“The state government opened the portal on Wednesday, a day after the court order. If the government hasn’t halted the process, why is a state-aided university like JU yet to begin? The Plus-II board results were released in the first week of May. Any further delay will hurt our chances of attracting bright students,” Mandal told Metro.
Private colleges, not under the portal, began their admissions soon after the board results. JU, also outside the portal’s purview, has yet to begin.
Partha Pratim Roy, secretary of JU’s teachers’ association, echoed the concern. “The university must begin admissions on Friday without any further delay,” he said.