West Bengal once again, without explanation, delays UG admission to colleges run and aided by it

The West Bengal government has once again, without explanation, extended the last date for admission to undergraduate courses in colleges run and aided by it, placing in limbo the future of thousands of students who are eagerly waiting to begin college life.

In a circular issued on Tuesday (July 15, 2025) afternoon, the Department of Higher Education said that the last date for submitting applications through the centralised portal, already extended from July 1 to July 15, was being further extended to July 25.

As it is there was a long delay in the opening of the centralised portal —introduced only last year — because West Bengal’s list of communities eligible for reservation under OBC category is caught in a legal tangle and a hearing is expected in the Supreme Court towards the end of this month. The fresh extension has pushed back the admission process by almost a month so far, whereas first-year classes in many private and autonomous institutions are about to begin.

“The centralised admission portal has not collected ‘category’ details in accordance with the order of the Calcutta High Court dated June 17, which put an interim stay on a new list of OBC communities prepared by the State Government. As the special leave petition related to this matter is currently pending before the Supreme Court, proper data collection during the application process cannot be completed at this stage. The extension of the application deadline is primarily due to this legal situation,” a professor of a State Government-run college, who requested anonymity for himself and the college, said.

“While the extension (of the last date for form submission) may allow for a few additional applications, the increase is not expected to be significant. As a result, the admission process may be delayed, potentially affecting the teaching-learning schedule for the upcoming academic session,” the professor said.

Many in academic circles are convinced that the delay in wrapping up the admission process is also because seats are not filling up sufficiently this year, primarily because many students are headed to private/autonomous institutions or to other States for higher education. Whatever the actual reason for this unspecified delay, the future of lakhs of students who finished school this year is in a limbo at the moment.

“As a working mother I am agonising over the fact that the process of admission is unlikely to end in July whereas other institutions representing minorities or which do not fall under the purview of centralised portal are conducting their admission tests and have declared that the first semester classes will start from August 1. Many parents like me have been forced to make our children secure a seat in these colleges for the time being even though we would ideally like them to study in a reputed government college,” said a State Government employee whose daughter has registered with the centralised portal and at the same time applied in a reputed Kolkata-based private institution.

“The State Government should have resolved the OBC reservation issue before the centralised portal went live. Parents have no clue how long the admission process will take to be complete and whether the children should simultaneously apply in private colleges, where education is far more expensive. This delay is creating unnecessary anxiety and annoyance for parents,” the employee said, requesting not to be named.