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| NIT, Rourkela |
Cuttack, July 27: The dispute over the new seat allotment policy for home state quota during admissions at the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela, has taken a new turn with Orissa High Court imposing restrictions on the admissions process there from today.
The Central Counselling Board (CCB), 2012, which had started counselling since June 16, was in the midst of the fourth round of the process for admissions. The spot round was scheduled for August 3-6.
The court passed the interim order on a petition challenging the Centre’s new guidelines for admission to various NITs for home state students through the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE), 2012.
The new norm introduced by the CCB, 2012, restricts a student to take admission only in the home state quota. Earlier, 50 per cent of the seats in all NITs used to be reserved for home state students, while remaining 50 per cent seats used to be filled through all India rankings.
Pritam Bag and two others had filed the petition seeking quashing of the new guidelines introduced through a notification on June 15 on the ground that it will lessen the prospects of students getting admission in the NIT in their home state.
As per the new norm, even if a student from Odisha tops in the AIEEE and takes admission in NIT, Rourkela, he or she would be considered under the state quota and not the all-India quota.
Hence, the new norm would reduce the probability of students from Odisha getting admission in NIT, Rourkela, the petitioners contended.
“The single-judge bench of Justice Sanju Panda, before which the petition came up for hearing on Thursday, has posted the matter to be heard again on July 30, while imposing the interim restriction,” petitioner counsel Bibaswata Panigrahi told The Telegraph today.
The CCB, 2012, constituted by the government of India, coordinates admissions to undergraduate degree programmes in engineering, technology and architecture in respect of select institutions, including 30 NITs, one of which is located in Rourkela.
