JU keen to implement domicile policy from current year

Kolkata: Jadavpur University is hopeful that the domicile policy for admission in undergraduate level at the varsity will be implemented from this academic year.

The hope on the part of the varsity comes with the state Higher Education department instructing the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (WBJEE) Board to introduce the quota rule from this year itself.

A source in the Higher Education department said that the JEE Board had cited legal constraints when it comes to implementation of domicile from this year. It had suggested introduction of the quota system from the next academic year.

However, the Higher Education department that held a meeting with senior Board officials last week had made it clear that they want the Board to introduce domicile policy.

The faculty council of engineering and technology of Jadavpur University on March 6 had adopted a resolution calling for reservation of 90 per cent of the engineering seats in the general category for home students, the ones who pass their plus-II exams from Bengal.

The Executive Committee (EC), the highest decision making body of the varsity, ratified the resolution for 'domicile policy' on March 18.

Jadavpur University has 16 departments in engineering among which 11 are

located on the main campus at Jadavpur while another five

at its second campus in Salt Lake.

It was on May 29 when the department had sent a letter to the JEE board chairman asking it to introduce the domicile policy from 2019-20 academic year. Registrar of JEE Board Dibyendu Kar when contacted refused to comment on the issue, while repeated phone calls to Board chairman Malayendu Sinha went unanswered.

"If Jadavpur University decides that it would start domicile for admission to its B. Tech programme we have to honour its right. The Board has to just notify the criteria for admission," an official in the state Higher Education department said.

The Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) Shibpur, and the NIT, Durgapur, have reserved 50 per cent of their seats for candidates from Bengal.

A student from Bengal can be admitted as a home student or a non-home student in both these institutes.