Day 1: JEE counselling session hits rough patch

The Central Selection Committee,the body which is in charge of the counselling process,had asked the 490 physically-handicapped students to appear for counselling at the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday.

As per the new regulations,physically-disabled students who have more than 50-70 per cent locomotor disability of lower limb are likely to get reservation benefits. This resulted in disqualification of many students who had a lesser percentage of disability.

According to the chairman of the Joint Entrance Examination Board,Siddhartha Datta,the Board has no role to play in assessing disability category. A team of doctors assess the disability of these students based on their certificates and they are given reservations accordingly,he said. “We will see that any candidate eligible to get the reservation benefit is not deprived of it. We will consult experts and then arrange for counselling of the students,” said Datta.

Dibyendu Kar,another official of the Board,said that the parents of the students with even 10 to 20 percent disability were also insisting that their wards be given reservation benefits.

To make matters worse,the Central Selection Committee had no idea of the new rules while making the list of disabled students. “Since these students have been put in the disabled category by the JEE Board itself,how can it deny them the benefit of reservations,” said a parent of one of the candidates. The committee later said that it would also consult the State Disability Commission and come up with a final list of candidates who will get admission through quota.