Bhubaneswar, Dec. 8: The uncertainty over entrance exam for engineering admissions in Odisha continues even as the state government remains tight-lipped about its choice between the OJEE and the JEE Mains.

Private engineering colleges under the banner of the Odisha Technical College Association today demanded for holding of the OJEE for 2016, claiming that it would benefit not only the students, but also institutions across the state.

Raising objection to the state government's engineering admission policy, the colleges said that though the department of technical education had issued a notification in 2014 asking all the government and private engineering colleges to take part in the JEE Mains for BTech admissions, all the deemed varsities and private universities violated the rules.

"While they went ahead admitting students by conducting their own entrance tests, the government turned a blind eye to such violation of rules," said association secretary Manoj Samantray.

Blaming the state government for such partial rules that brought down engineering admissions to an all-time low, the members alleged that this "discrimination" had given the private universities to take undue advantage of such decisions.

Private colleges had filed a writ petition against the state government in March, following which Orissa High Court ordered that the government decision to take part in the JEE Mains was not in consonance with the provisions of the Orissa Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fee) Act, 2007. The court had subsequently ordered for a special OJEE to facilitate admission to BTech courses.

The colleges requested that if the state government was considering taking part in the JEE Mains 2016 for admission to BTech first-year, the same principle must be made applicable in the admission process of deemed universities, private universities and autonomous colleges.