The move, they said, deprives a student of the opportunity to switch to a better college or stream in the following rounds.

WBJEE was held on May 24 this year.

This year's decentralised counselling is likely to start on September 2.

A teacher of Jadavpur University alleged that the board's decision to bar students who have already been admitted implies that students with higher JEE ranks will be excluded from upgrading their choice for a preferred college or course - an option allowed till last year.

The teacher said candidates among the top 600 in the Bengal JEE get admitted
to JU BTech programmes through the centralised counselling conducted by the JEE board.

Till last year, if BTech seats remained vacant after the centralised counselling, the higher education department allowed institutions to hold counselling on their own (decentralised counselling) and fill the vacant seats.

During this independent counselling, institutions like Jadavpur University and Calcutta University allowed students who had already taken admission to upgrade their choice and get admitted to a more coveted stream.

For example, this allowed a student admitted to the civil engineering department to shift to JU's computer science and engineering department, a more sought-after stream," the professor said.

Another professor said that a student admitted to a BTech programme at Calcutta University could similarly get admitted to a preferred stream at JU.

The Jadavpur University Teachers' Association (JUTA) on Friday issued a statement saying that the board's decision will open the gate for "the low-ranked students" to get admitted to the vacant seats.

"The seats that are currently vacant will be open for application to lower-ranked students who have not yet secured a seat anywhere," the statement stated.

"This implies that high-ranking students already admitted to Jadavpur University or other relatively prestigious colleges and universities are on the verge of losing the opportunity to get into their preferred departments...," it said.

The other decision of the board, which provides that students could be admitted to the vacant seats based on their Plus-II board marks, has also drawn the teachers' ire.

"Why will WBJEE Board allow students to get admitted to BTech programme based on Class XII marks when they are supposed to admit students based on their marks and ranks in WBJEE exams?" the JU teachers said in their decision.

JEE board president Gautam Paul said the board held three rounds of centralised counselling before deciding to conduct decentralised counselling for the vacant seats.

"Let those who have not taken part in the counselling earlier be given a chance," Paul said.