Bhubaneswar/Cuttack, March 23: Students who have secured less than 50 per cent marks in Plus Two and Plus Three examinations, but want to study engineering or MCA can now apply for the Orissa Joint Entrance Examination (JEE)—2011.
The Orissa High Court issued a stay order on the eligibility criteria of 50 per cent marks for general and 45 per cent marks for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students fixed by the Orissa JEE authorities as per the new AICTE guidelines. The court issued the interim order after a petition was filed by Orissa Private Engineering College Association (OPECA) secretary, Binod Dash, on behalf of 139 institutions approved by the AICTE and affiliated to Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT).
“We mentioned that AICTE had changed the minimum eligibility criteria in a hurry and did not take stakeholders into confidence. Also, a state like Andhra Pradesh, has not followed the AICTE eligibility guidelines,” said Dash.
“Further, when the Orissa Professional Educational ACT 2007 is in force, the state government decided to follow the new AICTE guidelines despite opposition from representatives of professional colleges in policy planning body,” he said.
“The single-judge bench of Justice M.M. Das said that the eligibility criteria for appearing for the entrance examination for admission to first-year MCA and first-year degree in engineering and technology shall not be given effect for enabling students to appear in JEE,” OPECA counsel D.P. Dash told The Telegraph.
“Although the last date for filling forms is March 23, it is directed that forms, if submitted latest by March 26, 2011, shall be accepted by JEE authorities,” the petitioner counsel said.
The court issued notices to the chairman of Orissa JEE committee to clarify its stand. According to the petition, the percentage of marks secured by the students in their respective examinations “has no reasonable nexus to determine their individual standards/ merits, which can only be judged through a common entrance examination”.
“More so, judging the merit of a student on the basis of the marks obtained at the qualifying examination conducted by various universities and educational agencies amounts to discrimination,” the petition contended.
OPECA further reasoned that many traditional colleges are running in interior areas with lack of amenities, proper study materials and experienced teaching staff. Hence, with such deficiencies many meritorious students are unable to secure more marks, though such students would perform excellently in the qualifying entrance tests.
