Bhubaneswar, July 4: The technical education department today said there was no duplication of the of Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) website.

The announcement was made following a review meeting chaired by technical education minister Sanjay Kumar Dasburma.

OJEE chairman Tusharkant Nath, who attended the meeting, said the website www.ojee.nic.in was completely safe. "We contacted Odisha Private Engineering College Association secretary Binod Dash, but he, too, could not provide us any evidence about such fake websites," said Nath.

Nath said strong action would be taken against notorious elements trying to create a fake website or making attempts to create one.

Yesterday, Dash alleged the existence of a fake OJEE website, claiming that many students were registering their names on it.

He said the names of several old colleges were excluded on the fake website, while names of some new colleges figured on it, leading to confusion among students.

He expressed grave concern that while students from the urban areas were able to distinguish between the genuine and the fake one, those from the rural areas were left confused.

Dash had also alleged that the fake website was asking students to pay money to process the admission.

Nath reiterated that the official website for the OJEE 2016 is www.ojee.nic.in and several advertisements had been issued on a regular basis to communicate it to the students.

"There is no problem with the portal. Once again, we request the students to visit the official website and avoid landing in trouble," said Nath.

The counselling process for admissions in various BTech courses in engineering colleges across the state began on July 1.

Students are required to take part in the counselling according to their JEE (Main) state ranks.

They are also required to visit nodal centres for verification of their documents after registration.

As many as 45,000 students from Odisha appeared for the JEE (Main) examination this year. In 2014, the OJEE official website was allegedly hacked.

The crime branch investigated the matter and one person was arrested.