Over three months after the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (WBJEE) was held, the Board on Thursday announced that the results are likely to be declared on August 7. The delay, the Board said, was due to legal proceedings surrounding the state’s updated list of OBC sub-castes.
“The examinations were held on April 27. By June 5, the results would have been announced and steps were taken. But due to the OBC matter, it could not be announced,” WBJEE chairperson Sonali Chakraborty Banerjee said at a press conference.
Following a directive issued by the state Higher Education Department on July 30, the Board has now asked candidates to update their social category information. “We have issued a notification and sent SMSes to examinees to update their category from July 31 till August 2. After that, we will take the next steps. Hopefully, we can declare the results on August 7,” Banerjee said.
The official notice issued by the Board states: “In compliance with a directive-cum-legal advisory issued by the Government of West Bengal in the Higher Education Department on July 30, all WBJEE-2025 candidates are hereby given an opportunity to update their Social Category Details (prior to publication of results and document verification) by August 2 (up to 11:59 pm).”
The Board clarified that candidates can update their details through a link provided on the WBJEE portal. Final verification will be conducted by the allotted institutes at the time of admission. “Any final decision will be subject to the outcome of pending legal proceedings,” the notice added.
On July 29, the Calcutta High Court directed the state government and the WBJEE Board to submit affidavits by August 7 explaining the delay in publishing the results. The division bench, led by Justice Sujoy Paul, was hearing a petition filed by the guardian of a candidate who appeared for the exam in April.
Earlier, the Board had cited legal complications arising from the state government’s decision to increase the number of OBC sub-castes from 64 to 140. That order had been stayed by the Calcutta High Court, before the Supreme Court intervened and stayed the High Court’s stay on July 28.
The delay in publishing the results has held up admissions across around 100 private engineering colleges, 10 government engineering colleges, and two state-aided universities — Jadavpur University and the University of Calcutta.