Odisha’s participation in JEE Main likely to get Cabinet nod today

Bhubaneswar: The State Cabinet is likely to give its approval to the decision of the Odisha government to participate in the JEE (Joint Entrance Examination) Main at its meeting today.

The meeting, to be presided over by chief minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat, will begin at 11 AM, official sources said.

Taking note of the confusion arising every year on whether the state government would stick to the JEE Main or the Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) for admission in Engineering stream, the Skill Development and Technical Education department has brought a proposal for amendment to Section-3 of the Odisha Professional Education (OPE) Act. If the proposal gets the Cabinet nod, the state government will have the power to decide the avenue for admission in the Engineering stream.

As per the provision in the OPE Act at present, the state government has the power for admission in the Engineering stream through OJEE. Once the Act is amended, the state government will have the power to conduct counselling in two phases as per the JEE Main rank while it will empower the authorities of the Engineering colleges to fill up the remaining seats that would fall vacant after the two-phase counselling.

The Cabinet is also likely to approve a proposal on amendment in the BPUT (Biju Patnaik University of Technology) Act. If approved, the tenure of the BPUT vice chancellor would be reduced to three years instead of five years.

As per the proposal in the amendment, the minister for Skill Development and Technical Education would be the Pro-Chancellor of BPUT. There will be a provision for creation of the post of a deputy registrar for the University.

The state government would appoint either a senior administrator or a professor as Registrar of the University.

This apart, the Cabinet is likely to approve a proposal for amendment in the cadre rules for appointment of principals in government polytechnic colleges. If the proposal is approved, recruitment of the principals for these colleges would be made as per the merit list prepared by the Odisha Public Service Commission.

The State Cabinet is also likely to approve some other proposals in the meeting.