National Institute of Technology (NIT) Patna will facilitate the process for allotment of seats through Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) for admission to National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) and government-funded technical institutions (GFTIs).
IIT-Guwahati will conduct the counselling process of admission in IITs. A meeting of JoSAA is expected to be held in the first week of April which IIT-Guwahati director Gautam Biswas, NIT-Patna director Asok De and heads of other IITs and NITs are expected to attend.
Though the date and venue of the JoSAA meeting is not finalised, NIT-Patna sources said the meeting would decide on the business rule for admission and schedule dates for admission in IITs, NITs, IIITs and GFTIs. IIT-Guwahati will counsel students based on their JEE Advanced score for admission in IITs.
NIT-Patna will carry out counselling (seat allocation) for admission in 31 NITs, 20 IIITs and 18 GFTIs based on JEE Mains score.
Students aspiring for admission to IITs, NIT, IIITs and other institutions have to fasten their belts for admission in April.
The JEE Mains offline test will be held on April 3 and on April 9 and 10, the online test will be held.
NIT-Patna director Asok De said: "Issues pertaining to registration dates of candidates, last date to make choice-filling and date of results will be taken up during the JoSAA meeting."
As NIT-Patna has been given the task, it would carry out work such as printing of brochures, designing online choice-filling forms and designing separate website. Students will fill their branch and choice of institute online.
Also, the institute will carry out verification of certificates and credentials, coordinating with agencies concerned for seat allotment against state/UT quota seats and others.
Last year too, NIT-Patna was given the task of conducting counselling for NITs, IIITs, while IIT-Bombay conducted the counselling for admission in IITs and ISM. This year too, NIT-Trichy was given the task for conducting counselling for NITs, IIITs and GFTIs but later the ministry of human resources development shifted the task to NIT-Patna.
M.P. Singh, an NIT-Patna teacher and the coordinator in 2015, said: "This year too, NIT-Patna will have a separate cell to assist students in counselling. Our faculty members would help students make up their choices for engineering seats and colleges."
Last year, over 13 lakh candidates appeared for the national-level examination.
Out of those, six lakh students took part in the counselling in JEE Mains and Advanced and finally, 34,000 were selected for admission against 10,000 seats in IITs and 24,000 seats in NITs, IIITs and GFTIs.
