MUMBAI: Students may not require their Class XII board marks for admissions to all central engineering institutes, other than IITs, from next year or by 2017, if a Central Seat Allocation Board (CSAB) recommendation is accepted by the ministry of human resource development. On the other hand, the competitive exam may be held a tad earlier next year, for authorities say that additional time is required for the admission process.

Following the delay in submission of Class XII scores by boards to the CBSE and glitches in the scores of some students during this year's admission process, the CSAB will be strongly recommending admissions only on the basis of JEE (Main) scores. It means, the 40% weightage given to Class XII scores for admissions to NITs and other GFTIs (other than IITs) may be scrapped.

The CSAB, which is part of the Joint Seat Allocation Authority ( JoSAA ), will be making the recommendation in this year's admission report.

M P Singh, coordinator of the Central Seat Allocation Board (CSAB) from NIT-Patna, who was part of the JoSAA 2015, said: "Many of the 47 higher secondary boards in the country are not sending their scores on time to the CBSE. Some of them are not submitting it in the pro forma given by the board, leading to discrepancies. Keeping in mind students' interests, we will be asking the apex body to conduct admissions only on the basis of the JEE (Main) scores."

The first-ever joint seat allocation process was delayed by almost a week this year as the CBSE did not get Class XII scores from all boards on time. Instead of June 25, the process began on July 1, leading to a delay in the academic session at the premier institutes.

READ ALSO: Even government engineering college seats go vacant

Another JoSAA official said, "There were some students whose marks were higher than what they actually scored in their Class XII. Such students managed to get a seat on the basis of the 'hiked' score in the joint seat allocation process. This came to light only during the document-verification step, when it was too late to make changes." He added, "Though the number of such cases was not very high, some of the deserving candidates may have lost out on their merit seat due to such discrepancies."

While the CSAB, as part of their JoSAA report, will recommend the change, the Joint Entrance Examination Apex Board has also set up a sub-committee to review the process of allotting JEE (Main) ranks. Class XII scores were taken into account to calculate the JEE (Main) ranks since 2012, when the two-tier exam process ( JEE Main a and JEE Advanced) ) was introduced for the first time. After three years of implementation, the apex board will be reviewing the process introduced to control the proliferation of private coaching institutes in the country.

Ashok Misra, chairperson of the JEE Apex Board, confirmed that the sub-committee will assess the process of calculating the JEE (Main) ranks — the 60-40 weightage given to the Main and Class XII scores — and submit its report soon.

When the JoSAA met after counselling closed, it also felt the need to look back at the process and finetune it for the next year. While the online filling of institute and course choices started on July 1 this year, the committee felt that the process required an additional 15 days at least.

"For the process to be smooth, we have recommended that it be started at least 15 days before we started it this year," said JoSAA co-chairman Devang Khakhar. The entire admission process takes about a month and officials felt that if the schedule were to be spread out to 1.5 months, admissions would be smoother.

"That will mean advancing the exam by half a month. For, after the two tests (JEE Main and JEE Advanced), we also allow candidates to view their answer sheets and get their feedback, before we finally declare the results. That entire process is also spread out by a month," said another IIT director.

If the next committee advances the entire process, both JEE (Main) and JEE (Advanced) will have to be pushed back. "We also have to keep all the state board exams in mind. In some states, the Class XII exam runs into late April and we need to give candidates a breather before they can take the competitive tests," said a former JEE chairman.

READ ALSO: Maharashtra back to CET for engineering from next year

READ THIS IN HINDI: इंजिनियरिंग में ऐडमिशन के लिए नहीं होगी 12वीं के मार्क्स की जरूरत!