Bhubaneswar, Feb. 10: Authorities of private engineering colleges have threatened not to send their supervisors and evaluators for exams of the Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) if there is a “special exam” for students admitted under the 10 per cent NRI quota.

On Friday, the state government had given an undertaking before Orissa High Court to conduct special exams for students enrolled in NRI seats.

“When BPUT is unable to conduct one exam properly, how will they do so for the students admitted under the 10 per cent NRI quota,” said Binod Dash, secretary, Odisha Private Engineering Colleges’ Association. Dash said the decision would demoralise NRI students since they have been attending classes regularly along with the others and had completed the academic schedule.

College authorities fear holding special exams for these students will send a negative message and there will be difficulty in filling up seats under this category from the next academic session.

“The technical education department is playing with the careers of the students,” Dash said, adding if the non-cooperative attitude of the government continued, the colleges would not send supervisors for the varsity exams and evaluators for correction of answer sheets.

Earlier, Opeca had moved the court for allowing these students to appear for the first semester examination starting February 11. The admissions were allegedly not held under the supervision of Odisha Joint Entrance Examination authorities, as ordered by the court on October 1 last year, leading to the problem.

They students had gained direct admissions into private engineering colleges last year following a high court order allowing the institutions to fill up 10 per cent seats at their level through management or NRI quota.

Opeca, thus, requested the state government to shift the first two papers of the first semester and complete verification of these students by the new common examination dates.