Online admission to stay

TT, Siliguri, June.5: The teacher in charge of Raiganj University College today withdrew his resignation at a meeting held at North Bengal University (NBU) after the varsity refused to accept it.

A resolution was also unanimously passed at the meeting attended by college representatives, college’s students’ union representatives and varsity authorities that the institution will go ahead with its online admission process for first-year undergraduate courses for the 2014-2015 academic session.

Uttam Kumar Roy, the teacher in charge of the college, had faxed his resignation to vice-chancellor Somnath Ghosh yesterday, stating he could not bear the pressure from Chhatra Parishad-backed students’ union allegedly forcing him not to conduct the online admission process this year.

“There was a problem at the Raiganj University College for the past three days over the online admission process for first-year undergraduate courses. The students did not want the online admission to be conducted because they had faced problems last year when the college started the online admission system.

“However, they were satisfied after we heard out their problems and decided to take measures to solve them. Hence it was unanimously resolved in today’s meeting that the college will go forward with the online admission. The teacher in-charge had faxed his resignation to me yesterday, which I did not accept and asked him to reconsider his decision. He gave a letter withdrawing his resignation today,” Ghosh said. The VC said that students had complained they had to stand in long queues to submit admission fees at the college after filling up the online forms last year.

They also complained of the lack of an edit option which could allow them to correct mistakes if they made any.

“This year, the college will open an account in SBI and students will be able to pay the fees in any branch of the SBI. In the absence of the edit option last year, the students could not make rectifications if they had entered wrong details in the form. This year the college will provide an edit option so that students can make necessary changes,” the vice-chancellor said.

“The students will log in to the college portal and fill up details about himself, his school, the board he passed from and registration number. An e-challan will be generated which has to be deposited with the fees at any SBI branch. The students will be registered within 24 hours after submission of the fees and then they will be able to upload their marks and apply for courses of their choice,” he added.

Ghosh said that the online admission will begin from June 10 and the merit list will be published by June 26.

In order to conduct the online admission in a smooth manner, Dyutish Chakraborty, a professor at varsity’s political science department, was appointed as an observer to oversee the process. Sushanta Das, the varsity controller of examinations would be the technical advisor.

“I have requested the college to complete the admission process by July and begin the classes by July-end. A helpdesk will be set up at the college to assist the candidates for online admissions,” Ghosh said.

Roy admitted that he had withdrawn his resignation. “I have withdrawn my resignation and we will go forward with the online admission system,” he said.

Students’ union representatives said they would cooperate with college authorities in the online admission procedure.

“Now that our demands have been met, we have no problem in the admission being conducted online. We will help the college in conducting the online admissions successfully,” said Subhasish Saha, the general secretary of the college’s Chattra Parishad union.