Around 3,000 seats in the private engineering colleges are currently lying vacant after students fail to qualify for the next semester. Last year, there were 1,500 vacant seats in these colleges.

According to the rules, if any student fails to qualify for the next year during the four-year course, that particular seat continues to remain vacant until the completion of the batch. Colleges cannot admit students in second, third and fourth year of the course. However, some colleges have been reportedly using unfair means to fill up such seats and giving admission in second, third and fourth year of the course to fill up the vacancies. This has brought them under the scanner of the WBUT and it has decided to conduct an inquiry into the allegation.

“It is learnt that few colleges are conducting admission and filling up such seats in second, third and fourth years, which is totally illegal. We have also heard that students who manage the back-door entry have to pay a hefty amount to the management of the college,” said a WBUT official.