Jadavpur University is witnessing a debate on whether the executive council, its highest decision-making body, would approve a domicile quota of 90 per cent for the engineering departments or settle for a lower number.

The faculty council for engineering and technology at JU had on Wednesday adopted a resolution calling for reservation of 90 per cent of the engineering seats in the general category for home students, the ones who pass their plus-II exams from Bengal.

The executive council is expected to take up the faculty council’s recommendation at its March 18 meeting.

Sources said the executive council might consider the model followed by the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology and the National Institute of Technology, Durgapur. At both institutes, half the seats in the general category are reserved for home students.

“What the faculty council has said is a mere recommendation. The executive council may not accept the entire recommendation.... There is every possibility that the council would consider the IIEST/NIT system,” a member of the council said.

The meeting will be presided over by vice-chancellor Suranjan Das, who had once struck down a proposal for a domicile quota on the ground that it might derail JU’s attempt at bagging the “institute of eminence” tag from the Centre. The tag will earn the civic body a grant of Rs 1,000 crore over 10 years.

Das had on Wednesday told The Telegraph that he would express his views on the issue at the executive council meeting.

A university official said it would not be prudent to set aside 90 per cent of the seats for students from Bengal.

“I think a balance has to be struck. If the two institutes (IIEST and NIT) can reserve half the seats for home students, why not JU?” he said.

Asked whether the executive council could come up with a quota different from what the faculty council had recommended, dean of engineering Chiranjib Bhattacharjee said: “If the executive council wants, it can alter the percentage. Let the members of the council decide.”

Asked the same question, VC Das said: “I have yet to get the minutes of the resolution of the faculty council. Let that come and let the executive council meet.”

The boards of studies of 13 of the 16 engineering departments at JU had opined in favour of a domicile quota.

The electronics and telecommunication engineering and power engineering departments were against such a quota, while the teachers of computer science and engineering were split down the middle on the issue.

At Wednesday’s faculty council meeting, however, no department opposed the quota.

“Seven departments had proposed that 85 per cent of the seats in the general category be reserved, while the remaining nine had rooted for 90 per cent,” said Bhaskar Sardar, head of the information technology department and a member of the executive council.