Cuttack, Sept. 22 : The Odisha Private Engineering Colleges' Association (Opeca) has urged the state government not to take part in the JEE (Main) from 2018 to check the increasing number of vacancies in private engineering colleges.

The association wants the state government to conduct Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) from 2018 as vacancies in these colleges increased from 50 per cent to 75 per cent since Odisha joined the JEE (Main) four years ago.

In its memorandum submitted yesterday, the association told the commissioner-cum-secretary, skill development and technical education department, Sanjay Singh, that the private engineering colleges had been 'badly-affected' and 'the question of sustainability has aroused' due to participation in the JEE.

The Central Board of Secondary Education conducts the JEE, the common all-India engineering entrance test, for students aspiring to get into engineering colleges.

Until 2013, admissions into BTech courses in engineering colleges of the state were done through the OJEE. The association also pointed out in the memorandum that only Nagaland, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Odisha joined the JEE (Main).

'The majority of the states hold their own engineering entrance examinations and the system has been prevalent for the past 20 years,' Opeca secretary Binod Dash told The Telegraph today.

'Moreover, states such as Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra where majority of the engineering colleges in the country are situated are not a participant to the JEE (Main). They conduct their own entrance examinations so that they are able to give maximum opportunity to the students of their states,' Dash said.

There are around 45,000 seats in 90 odd engineering colleges in the state. In the memorandum, the association said OJEE used to provide 10 per cent of the seats for 'outside state category'. 'Every year, 17,000 to 19,000 students from outside the state appeared for OJEE. But, we directly lose 50 per cent of the outside state candidates if OJEE is not held,' the association said.

Orissa High Court had ordered for conducting special OJEE in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 on petitions filed by the association.

In the memorandum, the association pointed out that there were insufficient examination centres for conducting JEE (Main) in the state and many students were unable to take the examination.

'The joint entrance examination is based on the CBSE pattern. Hence, our students don't secure good marks in the examination as majority of the students come from Plus Two CHSE (Council of Higher Secondary Education) Board, Odisha,' the association said.