The state government has turned down Jadavpur University's proposal to hold an independent counselling process for admissions to its BTech programmes, vice-chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharjee said on Monday.

According to the vice-chancellor, the higher education department informed the university last week that it must participate in the centralised counselling process to be conducted by the state joint entrance examination board.

In March, when the Trinamool Congress government was in power, the university wrote to the education department seeking permission to conduct an independent counselling. Officials said that delays in the centralised counselling exercise often hampered JU's ability to attract top-ranking students and to complete the syllabus on time.

Sources in the higher education department said the JEE board had been advised to start the counselling at the earliest.

"JU will take part in the centralised counselling process like other institutes. So we have been told. We received a communication from the department. Hopefully, they (the JEE board) will start the counselling at the earliest," Bhattacharjee said.

The JEE board, which conducts the state's engineering entrance test, oversees a centralised online counselling process for admissions to BTech programmes in state-aided universities and government and private engineering colleges after the results are announced.

Once the customary three rounds of centralised counselling are completed, institutions conduct decentralised counselling on their own to fill vacant seats.

In March, JU’s then-dean of engineering and technology, Parthapratim Biswas, said the university wanted to hold its online counselling immediately after the state JEE results because the centralised counselling starts late. Many bright students skip JU because of the delay.

"Classes cannot start on time because of the delayed admissions," the dean had said.

This year, the state JEE examinations were held as late as May 24 because of the Assembly elections.

Usually, there is a one-and-a-half-month gap between the publication of results and the start of counselling.

Diganta Saha, a professor of JU's computer science and engineering department, said: "A delayed start means we miss out on bright students. The syllabus remains incomplete. If JU could conduct its own counselling immediately after the publication of the results, this crisis could be contained."

"We sincerely hope that the centralised counselling will start sooner this year," he said.

After the centralised process ends, JU conducts its own independent counselling to fill the remaining seats. "But the students admitted in the latter rounds are lower in the merit order. This dilutes JU's standards," Saha said.

Last year, over 150 of the university’s 1,308 BTech seats remained vacant after the centralised counselling.