WBJEEB announces open decentralized counseling for all BTech hopefuls

Kolkata, August 30 – The West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination Board issued a fresh advisory on Sunday, opening the decentralized counseling avenue to every BTech candidate. The move follows a wave of protests from students and faculty who challenged the earlier ban on participants who had already secured seats through centralized counseling.

The previous policy barred those admitted via the centralized online counseling from entering the decentralized system, allowing only non‑qualified applicants to compete using their 10+2 marks. Opponents claimed the restriction hindered merit‑based seat upgrades.

The revised guideline now permits all candidates—whether they gained admission in the centralized round or not—to take part in the common online decentralized counseling. Detailed instructions and a new counseling schedule will be uploaded to the board’s official portal soon.

An official from West Bengal’s Higher Education Department explained that the original rule was designed to prevent duplicate seat claims, avoid unnecessary seat blocks, and stop migration of seats by already admitted students. Given the unanimous dissent from both teachers and students, the board opted to eliminate the clause.

Stakeholders anticipate that the updated framework will bring greater flexibility and transparency to the state’s engineering admission process.