Bhubaneswar, June 28: The first selection list for Plus Three admissions in the state will be announced tomorrow. The list was scheduled to be announced today but was postponed by a day.

A source said the delay in publication of the list was caused because of problems in updating the Plus Two admission data online.

Mihir Das, officer in charge of the performance tracking cell of the higher education department, said: "Since the same staff members are involved in Plus Two and Plus Three admission works, we needed extra time."

The higher education department has also decided to allow students, who passed the Class XII examination conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education to take admission into Plus Three by producing the downloaded mark sheets.

"The CBSE is yet to issue original certificates so we have decided to allow these students to produce the downloaded certificates duly certified by their respective principals. They can later produce the original certificates to the colleges," Das added.

The higher education department has also issued a circular to all the colleges to allow admission with downloaded certificates.

The admission process for the students selected in the first round will be held from June 30 to July 3. The second round of merit list will be out on July 7, following which the admission will be held on July 10 and 11.

The third round selection of merit list will be published on July 16. Classes for Plus Three students will start from July 19. Admissions will be held in more than 700 degree colleges in the state.

Of 90,643 students, who appeared for the Plus Two examination in science this year, 73,523 passed it. About 1,74,237 students passed the Plus Two examination in arts and 20,044 in commerce stream. About 50,000 board students and more than 15,000 ISC students are also in the fray for college admissions.

Blast at plant

A labourer was injured after a minor explosion occurred at the blast furnace No. 5 of the Rourkela Steel Plant on Tuesday night. The injured worker has been admitted to the Ispat General Hospital.

Production was stalled at the site after the incident took place. The furnace had stopped production for around 15 days last month because of supply of low quality coal, sources said.

Resignation

BJD's newly appointed Kendrapara minority cell president Mir Muzib Baksh resigned from his post on Tuesday. He said he took the decision to maintain the party's image.

"My rival group hatched a conspiracy against me. With due respect, I decided to quit the post. I have tendered my resignation to the state president of the minority cell Munna Khan," he said.