Jadavpur University has called a meeting of the faculty council for engineering and technology on February 26 to decide whether a “domicile policy” for admission to the BE programme would be adopted.

The council, if it agrees to adopt such a policy, will also pass a resolution on when it will be introduced.

If a domicile policy comes into effect, a certain percentage of the seats have to be set aside for “home students” — those who have passed their Plus-II exams from Bengal.

The faculty council meeting has been convened within two months of vice-chancellor Suranjan Das striking down a proposal from the council that called for 85 to 90 per cent of the seats to be reserved for home students.

Chiranjeeb Bhattacharya, the dean of engineering and technology faculty, said the meeting had been called after the board of studies of 12 of the 14 engineering departments opined in favour of a domicile policy from the next academic year.

“Barring two departments, all have proposed that a domicile policy be introduced in the 2019-20 academic year. There are differences over how many seats would be reserved for home students. The two departments that have not yet expressed any opinion on the issue will do so on Tuesday,” Bhattacharya said.

A member of the faculty council said the mechanical engineering department wanted all their seats to be reserved for home students. The civil and construction engineering departments, the official said, want 85 per cent of their seats to be reserved.

The mechanical engineering department was the first to revive the demand for a domicile policy, within two months of VC Das nixing such a proposal on the ground that a university aspiring to the tag of “institute of eminence” should not close its doors on deserving students from other states.

A domicile quota, he had argued, would derail JU’s attempt at bagging the “institute of eminence” tag, which would earn the university a grant of Rs 1,000 crore over five years.

As many as 18 teachers of mechanical engineering had appealed to Gautam Majumdar, the head of the department, to start a discussion on the “issue of formulating a domicile policy”.

The department’s board of studies met on February 7 and resolved to root for a domicile policy.

Asked about the faculty council meeting scheduled for February 26, the VC told Metro on Sunday: “I had put forward my views. Let the opinion of the faculty council and the boards of studies reach us. The collective opinion will be placed before the executive council. Let the highest body (executive council) decide.”

The IIEST, Shibpur, and the NIT, Durgapur, have reserved 50 per cent of their seats for candidates from Bengal.

At both institutes, a student from Bengal can be admitted as a home student or a non-home student.