Kolkata, Aug 23 (PTI) West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu said that the admission process to undergraduate courses in 460 colleges under 17 state universities has started after the publication of the merit list was delayed due to legal issues.
The first phase of the admission process will continue till August 25, he said.
The legal imbroglio had delayed the publication of the merit list to UG courses and caused uncertainty among the students, many of whom got enrolled to private higher educational institutions in West Bengal or migrated to other states, as several months had elapsed since the conduct of higher secondary examinations in February.
The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a Calcutta High Court order asking the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examinations Board (WBJEEB) to scrap and recast the merit list of the Joint Entrance Examination for Medical and Allied Sciences (Postgraduate) for 2024-25.
Following the top court’s order, while the WBJEEB published the merit list of JEE candidates who wrote their papers in April, the higher education department began uploading to a central portal the names of candidates for admission to UG courses from August 22.
In an X post, the education minister said 3,09,667 valid applicants have enrolled for admission to 460 colleges affiliated to 17 state universities.
“Due to legal complications, the publication merit list was being delayed which made us deeply worried as well as the candidates and their guardians. Now the process has begun to allot seats among the candidates based on their preferences,” he said.
Basu said the first phase process in uploading the merit list will continue till August 25.
There are 4.02,557 seats where candidates can study in over 100 subjects.
Earlier on August 7, the Calcutta High Court observed the WBJEEB acted in “clear violation” of an earlier order regarding OBC candidates reservation and directed it to recast the merit list and publish a fresh panel, providing 7 per cent reservation for the 66 classes of OBC candidates as recognised by the West Bengal Backward Classes Department prior to 2010.
On Friday, however, a Supreme Court bench stayed the high court order.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said that the merit list for admission to UG courses in different colleges has been uploaded in the central admission portal and expressed hope that other outstanding problems will be addressed in a similar manner.
“Due to some legal wrangles, we had to wait for the publication of results for many days. But this was not intentional. We will ensure no candidate suffers due to the delay in publication of results,” she had said. PTI SUS NN
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