JEE (Main) ranks: Many fear losing seats of choice

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 2

After facing the embarrassment of AIPMT paper leak, the CBSE appears to have goofed on JEE (Main) rankings by releasing the first all-India rank list in haste without considering the re-verified/re-evaluated Class XII (non-medical) marks of candidates. 

Thousands, who applied for the re-evaluation, fear losing admission to engineering colleges of their choice after the CBSE failed to take into account their revised marks while computing the merit list of JEE (Main) released yesterday.

JEE (Main) rankings are being used from today for joint admission counselling by top engineering institutes like IITs, NITs and IIITs.

Students, however, don’t even know if the board has finalised their ranks based on the old or revised school marks. It’s equally surprising that the first merit list was out yesterday when the information bulletin of JEE (Main) portal on the CBSE’s website mentioned that the ranks would be declared only on July 7.

“The CBSE should have published the JEE score and the final Class XII normalised score separately to enable students to know their status. We have been running around since yesterday to find out if the final marks have been used. 

The board is not saying anything,” a parent said. JEE (Main) rank comprises 60% weightage of JEE (Main) score and 40% weightage of Class XII score. JK Yadav in CBSE’s JEE Apex Board said the all-India rank of JEE (Main) released yesterday took into account verified marks of candidates but not their re-evaluated marks. “The revised list with re-evaluated marks will be released on July 8,” he said, though the board is yet to officially announce the move of a revised list.

What's worse, The Tribune has evidence of students’ re-verified marks not been used for yesterday’s ranks. Many such students fall under the CBSE’s Panchkula regional office where sources said they had not even sent to CBSE headquarters updated lists of verified or re-evaluated marks of students and the computation process was still on.

Another issue is whether a revised list on July 8 will help at all, considering JOSAA (Joint Seat Allocation Authority for Admissions in IITs, NITs and IIITs) website mentions the last date for online filling-in of stream choices for institutes as July 5 (starting July 1). This means students will have to fill the ranks the CBSE allotted to them yesterday, the ones that don't consider their revised marks and make them lose several ranks in the merit list.

Asked how a second list will help when counselling has begun, Yadav said, “IITs and NITs have agreed to consider the parallel ranks CBSE will award to students later.” But many parents today said when they contacted helplines at Patna NIT and Bombay IIT, they were told no change in rankings will be accepted after the July 5 deadline.