With counselling set to begin on June 10, the State Government has directed the Chairman of Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) Committee to file a caveat before the Orissa High Court requesting that no interim order be passed without hearing the State or the OJEE.
The move has been initiated to ensure that the counselling process is not affected, which in turn can have its impact on the non-negotiable academic calendar.
The Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) has chalked up an academic calendar which requires that admission in all respect should be completed by the end of July and classes must commence from August 1 of the session.
However, the calendar was affected last year after the Odisha Private Engineering College Association (OPECA) and other institutions filed a writ petition challenging the decision of the OJEE 2012 and the All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) in curtailing the NRI quota seats from 15 per cent to 5 per cent and merge the vacant seats in the category with that of the general.
In a letter to the Chairman of OJEE Committee, the Employment and Technical Education and Training Department, which directed the former to file the caveat, stated that the High Court issued an interim order and granted a stay on filling up of the 15 per cent quota. The case was disposed of on October 1 last year.
“Due to the interim order of the High Court, the entire counselling process was derailed and the non-negotiable academic calendar of the BPUT was affected,” the letter said. The delay, the department claimed, not only affected the excellence in technical education, but also the career of the students.
Meanwhile, the AICTE, following a Supreme Court order, has prescribed a schedule which stipulates that the last round of counselling must be completed by July 20 of the academic session.
“If any interim order will be passed in the event of filing of writ petitions assailing the counselling process by the OPECA or any other institution, then the entire counselling process will be derailed and it will not be possible to stick to the schedule prescribed by the AICTE in pursuance of the order of the Supreme Court,” the ETE&T Department said.
In view of the situation, the OJEE Chairman has been asked to file a caveat submitting that no interim order be passed without either the State or the OJEE Committee being heard as it will have a far-reaching effect on the counselling process and affect the non-negotiable academic calendar of the BPUT, which may vitiate the order of the apex court.