The results of the Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) were finally published on Friday — over two-and-a-half months later than scheduled — following a timely intervention by the Supreme Court.

Originally set for publication on June 5, the results were withheld due to an ongoing case in Calcutta High Court on OBC reservations. Hours after the Supreme Court stayed the high court’s halt order, the JEE board released the results on its website at 2pm on Friday.

The exam was held on April 27. With results now declared, admission can proceed for 34,000 BTech seats across 100 private engineering colleges, 10 government colleges, and two state-aided universities.

JEE board chairperson Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee said: “We are awaiting the seat matrix from the higher education department to start the counselling.”

Result trends

Of the 1,01,643 candidates who appeared, 1,00,502 qualified.

The JEE board said Bengal board students accounted for over 50 per cent of examinees. Among them, 96.64 per cent qualified.

However, only two students from the Bengal board featured among the top 10 rankers — continuing a recent trend of students from other boards dominating top positions.

Aniruddha Chakraborty of Don Bosco, Park Circus, who topped, has already taken admission to the computer science programme at IIT Kharagpur. “I have already attended classes for over a month at the IIT,” he told reporters.

Delay fallout

Chakraborty’s statement highlighted two major concerns: Delay in the academic calendar, which has already begun in several premier institutions, and a decline in Jadavpur University’s appeal, as top rankers now opt for IITs, NITs, or reputed private institutions outside Bengal.

Diganta Saha, professor of computer science and engineering at JU, said: “The delay means top students have already left Bengal. Teachers here will struggle to complete the syllabus. Those who could afford it have joined IITs, NITs, or top private colleges in south India. We urge the JEE board to shorten the centralised counselling period so classes can begin before the Puja break.”

Reservation row

On July 28, the Supreme Court stayed a Calcutta High Court order blocking the Bengal government’s June 8 notification on 17 per cent OBC reservation for 140 sub-categories. Following this, the JEE board chairperson had said results were likely to be published on August 7.

However, on August 7, Justice Kaushik Chanda of the high court ruled that the board must publish results based on pre-2010 norms — allowing 7 per cent reservation for 66 sub-categories — regardless of the apex court’s stay.