Cuttack, July 19: Orissa High Court today directed the state government to hold a Special Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) for BTech (engineering) courses for the 2016-17 academic year for admission to technical institutions in the state.
The court issued the order on a petition filed by Odisha Private Engineering College Association (Opeca). This is for the third consecutive year that the high court has issued such a direction to the state government.
The state government had taken part in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)-conducted JEE (Main) 2016 for admission to BTech courses in all the government and private engineering colleges in the state and held OJEE 2016 for other professional and technical courses.
The division bench of Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice D.P. Choudhury ordered that a special OJEE be conducted for seats remaining vacant after the JEE (Mains) counselling.
"Today's order implies that the students who did not take the JEE (Main) and yet aspire to take admission in various engineering colleges in the state will have the opportunity to take the entrance test," Opeca secretary Binod Dash told The Telegraph.
Around 48,000 students wrote the JEE (Mains) examination at 71 centres across the state on April 3. The JEE (Mains) examination scores or ranks were declared on June 30. While 20,000 candidates had registered their names for admission on the basis of JEE (Mains) rank, only 13,060 had locked their choices by the end of counselling. Admissions will begin tomorrow.
The high court today directed the state government to start the process of holding Special OJEE 2016 by inviting applications from July 20 and complete the process of counselling and admissions in colleges by August 15.
"We are hopeful that over 5,000 students will register for the Special OJEE," the Opeca secretary said.
The court endorsed the contention of Opeca that conducting of Special OJEE was necessary as many students had failed to apply for the JEE (Mains) because they live in remote areas where there is no proper Internet facility. The number of JEE (Mains) examination centres is just one-third as compared to OJEE centres. This way, OJEE gives clear access to a large number of students.
OJEE is necessary for the survival of technical education in the state. In 2014 and 2015, more than 60 per cent seats remained vacant in first year of BTech courses and consequently, the colleges were badly affected, Opeca had said in the court.
At present, there are 93 degree engineering colleges in the state with an intake capacity of around 45,000. While seven of them are government-run colleges, the rest are self-financed colleges.
Until 2013, admissions to BTech courses in the state's engineering colleges were done through OJEE. However, with the state government joining the JEE (Mains), a common all-India engineering entrance test, from 2014, students aspiring for BTech seats appeared the JEE (Mains) conducted by the CBSE.
Earlier, Opeca had raised objection in the high court following the state government's decision not to conduct OJEE in 2014 and 2015 and join the all-India test. Acting on it, the high court had directed the state government to hold a Special OJEE test for BTech (engineering) courses for 2014-15 and 2015-16 academic sessions.
The high court also directed the state government to conduct the second OJEE - 2016 for MBA, MCA courses and lateral entry into BTech (engineering) courses along with the Special OJEE 2016. The order was issued because it was brought to the notice of the court that 50 per cent of the seats for professional and technical courses were lying vacant. The state government had conducted OJEE 2016 on May 8 for professional and technical courses barring BTech.
