Undergraduate admissions in government and aided colleges began on Wednesday, but Jadavpur University held off after the high court on Tuesday issued an interim stay on the Bengal government’s June 8 notification granting OBC status to 140 sub-castes for reservation in education and jobs.

A JU official said they were seeking legal advice following the court order, which led to the online application process for admissions to the arts and science departments being halted.

JU decided to stall its admission process, even as admissions to 461 government and aided colleges in Bengal began on Wednesday morning through the state-run portal. Education department officials said there were no technical issues with receiving online applications from prospective students.

The officials did not comment on JU’s decision not to start the admission process.

“We are yet to decide on admissions following the court order. We’ve contacted our legal counsel, but as of late Tuesday, we hadn’t received their opinion. The admission process will begin once we get the advice,” said a JU official.

Calls and text messages to JU pro-VC Amitava Dutta and acting registrar Indrajit Banerjee went unanswered.

“The admission could not be started as JU has sought legal opinion,” said Selim Box Mandal, head of the Bengali department and a member of the admission committee.

Delay concern

Teachers are worried about the delay in admissions.

Parthapratim Roy, a professor in the physics department, said: “Even starting the process on June 18 would have been a month after the publication of Plus-II results. But even that didn’t happen.”

Manojit Mandal, former head of the English department, said he couldn’t understand why JU had to halt the process when admissions through the state-run portal began as scheduled on Wednesday.

“Why couldn’t JU start the admission process too? If we keep delaying, how will the department attract bright students who might choose other colleges?” Mandal told The Telegraph.

The English department, in a June 9 resolution, had expressed “extreme concern” about the possibility of losing bright students.

JU wanted to start the process on May 18. But the education department prevented the university — outside the ambit of the state-run portal — from proceeding, saying the state government was awaiting legal opinion from the advocate-general on the OBC reservation.

Portal

The state-run portal went live at 10am on Wednesday, said an education department official. Education minister Bratya Basu wrote on X: “Till 6pm on Wednesday, 28,443 students registered their names. They have applied for 71,949 courses. Of them, 251 students are from outside Bengal.”

Candidates can apply for up to 25 courses.