Partitioning of Candidates

For the purpose of seat allocation, qualified candidates are partitioned into different categories based on (birth) categories, presence or absence of disability and nationality. On the basis of such a partition, each candidate is assigned a category tag as given below. 

(i) Category tag GEN: This is assigned to Indian nationals who do NOT belong to OBC-NCL, SC or ST category (or who fail to produce valid OBC-NCL, SC or ST certificate) and are NOT Persons with Disabilities.

(ii) Category tag GEN-PwD: This is assigned to Indian nationals who do NOT belong to OBC-NCL, SC or ST category (or who fail to produce valid OBC-NCL, SC or ST certificate) and are Persons with Disabilities. Candidates must produce a valid PwD certificate to be assigned this tag. 

(iii) Category tag OBC-NCL: This is assigned to Indian nationals who belong to the Non-Creamy Layer of Other Backward Classes and are NOT Persons with Disabilities. Candidates must produce a valid OBC-NCL certificate to be assigned this tag. The backward class must be in the Central List of OBCs. 

(iv) Category tag OBC-NCL-PwD: This is assigned to Indian nationals who belong to the Non-Creamy Layer of Other Backward Classes and are Persons with Disabilities. Candidates must produce valid OBC-NCL and PwD certificates to be assigned this tag. The backward class must be in the Central List of OBCs. Thus, candidates belonging to the Non-Creamy Layer of Other Backward Classes are divided into two mutually exclusive categories and are assigned either one of the tags OBC-NCL or OBC-NCL-PwD. 

(v) Category tag SC: This is assigned to Indian nationals who belong to Scheduled Castes and are NOT Persons with Disabilities. Candidates must produce a valid SC certificate to be assigned this tag. 

(vi) Category tag SC-PwD: This is assigned to Indian nationals who belong to Scheduled Castes and are Persons with Disabilities. Candidates must produce valid SC and PwD certificates to be assigned this tag. Thus, candidates belonging to the scheduled castes are divided into two mutually exclusive categories and are assigned either one of the tags SC or SC-PwD. 

(vii) Category tag ST: This is assigned to Indian nationals who belong to Scheduled Tribes and are NOT Persons with Disabilities. Candidates must produce a valid ST certificate to be assigned this tag.

(viii) Category tag ST-PwD: This is assigned to Indian nationals who belong to Scheduled Tribes and are Persons with Disabilities. Candidates must produce valid ST and PwD certificates to be assigned this tag. Thus, candidates belonging to the scheduled tribes are divided into two mutually exclusive categories and are assigned either one of the tags ST or ST-PwD.

(ix) Category tag Foreign: This is assigned to candidates who are NOT Indian nationals.

For candidates who have registered for JEE (Advanced) 2015, the category of a candidate as entered in the database provided by the JEE apex board [which conducted JEE (Main) 2015] will be considered based on document verification by the Joint Admission Board 2015.

For candidates who have NOT registered for JEE (Advanced) 2015, category tag is assigned based on the candidate’s declaration in the JEE (Main) 2015 registration portal.

For the purpose of allocating seats for NITs and Other-GFTIs, candidates are also assigned a state code of eligibility. 
(A) State code of eligibility means the code of the state from where the candidate has passed Class XII (or equivalent) examination by virtue of which the candidate becomes eligible to appear in JEE (Main) 2015. The codes of the states are same as those given in the JEE (Main) 2015 Information Bulletin. It is important to note that the state code of eligibility does NOT depend upon the native place or the place of residence of the candidate. For example, if a candidate appears for the Class XII examination in New Delhi and is a resident of NOIDA, Uttar Pradesh, the candidate’s state code of eligibility will be that of Delhi and NOT that of Uttar Pradesh. 

(B) If a candidate has passed Class XII (or equivalent) examination from one state but appeared for improvement from another state, the candidate’s state code of eligibility will be from where the candidate first passed the Class XII (or equivalent) examination and NOT the state from where the candidate has appeared for improvement. 

(C) For Indian nationals passing the Class XII (or equivalent) examination from an institution abroad, the state code of eligibility will be determined on the basis of permanent address in India as given in the passport of the candidate. For Indian nationals passing the Class XII (or equivalent) examination from Nepal/Bhutan, the state code of eligibility will be determined on the basis of permanent address in India as given in the passport of the candidate. 

Candidates Who Can Participate in Joint Seat Allocation [JoSAA-2015]

Each and every candidate who satisfies one or more of the following criteria is eligible for participation in joint seat allocation:

Criterion (i): Qualified in JEE (Advanced) 2015 for academic programs [excluding the preparatory courses] at IITs and ISM AND satisfies the "Performance in Class XII (or equivalent) examination"

Criterion (ii): Qualified in JEE (Advanced) 2015 for preparatory courses at IITs and ISM AND satisfies the "Performance in Class XII (or equivalent) examination"

Criterion (iii): Secured a rank in JEE (Main) 2015 Paper-1 (B.E./B.Tech.) AND has obtained 45% [for GEN] or 40% [for OBC-NCL, SC, ST, PwD] aggregate marks in the Class XII (or equivalent) examination. 

Marks obtained in the following five subjects will be considered for calculating the aggregate marks: any one language, Mathematics, Physics, any one of [Chemistry, Biology, Biotechnology or technical vocational subject] and any other fifth subject.

Criterion (iv): Secured a rank in JEE (Main) 2015 Paper-2 (B.Arch./B. Planning) AND has Mathematics as one of the subjects in Class XII (or equivalent) examination AND has obtained 50% aggregate marks [irrespective of whether the candidate belongs to the GEN, OBC-NCL, SC, ST or PwD category] in total five subjects including Mathematics.

Performance in Class XII (or equivalent) Board examination

• One of the criteria for admission to IITs and ISM is that the candidate should satisfy at least one of these two criteria:
  1. He/she is within the category-wise top 20 percentile of successful candidates in his/her respective Class XII (or equivalent) Board examination.
  2. He/she has secured 75% (for GEN or OBC-NCL) or 70% (SC, ST or PwD) of aggregate marks in the Class XII (or equivalent) Board examination.
• The marks scored in the following five subjects will be considered for calculating the aggregate marks and the cut-off marks for fulfilling the top 20 percentile criterion: (1) Physics, (2) Chemistry, (3) Mathematics, (4) a language (if the candidate has taken more than one language, then the language with the higher marks will be considered), and (5) any subject other than the above four (the subject with the higher marks will be considered).
• For calculation of the total marks for five subjects, if the marks awarded in a subject is NOT out of 100, then the marks will be scaled (up or down) to 100 so that the total aggregate marks is out of 500.
• If a Board awards only letter grades without providing an equivalent percentage of marks on the grade sheet, the candidate should obtain a certificate from the Board specifying the equivalent marks and submit it at the time of online acceptance of the allocated seat. In case such a certificate is not provided, the decision taken by the Joint Implementation Committee of JEE (Advanced) 2015 will be final.
• In case any of the subjects Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and language are not evaluated in the final year (e.g., in a 3-year diploma course), then the marks for the same subject from the previous year will be used for calculating the top 20 percentile cut-off and percentage of aggregate marks.
• Candidates who appeared in the Class XII (or equivalent) examination for the first time in 2014 and wish to (or has to) reappear in 2015, should reappear in all the subjects.
• For candidates who appeared for the Class XII (or equivalent) Board examination in 2014, but reappeared in all subjects in 2015, the best of the two performances will be considered.
• If a Board gives aggregate marks considering both Class XI and Class XII examinations (in the 10+2 system), then only the Class XII marks will be considered. If a Board gives aggregate marks considering the results of all three years of a 3-year diploma or courses of equivalent duration, then only the marks scored in the final year will be considered. Similarly, for Boards which follow a semester system, the marks scored in the final two semesters will be considered.
• If a Board does not give marks scored in individual subjects but gives only the aggregate marks, then the aggregate marks given by the Board will be considered as such.
• The criteria, as specified here, is applicable "in toto" to all the candidates including foreign nationals.

Regarding the cut-off marks for the Top 20 percentile

• The category-wise cut-off marks for the top 20 percentile are calculated based on the marks scored by all the “successful” candidates in their respective boards.
• The cut-off marks for PwD candidates will be the same as the lowest of the cut-off marks for GEN, OBC-NCL, SC and ST categories.
• The top 20 percentile cut-off marks of the respective Boards in 2015 will be considered for candidates who pass the Class XII (or equivalent) examination in 2015.
• The top 20 percentile cut-off marks of the respective Boards in 2014 will be considered for candidates who passed the Class XII (or equivalent) examination in 2014, provided the candidate does not reappear for the Class XII (or equivalent) examination in 2015 in any of the subjects.
• In case a Board does not provide information about the cut-off for the top 20 percentile, the candidate will have to produce a certificate from the respective Board stating that he/she falls within the top 20 percentile of successful candidates. If the candidate fails to do so, then the cut-off mrks for the CBSE will be used.

Regarding the aggregate marks of 75% (or 70%)

• The marks scored by a candidate in the 2014 Class XII (or equivalent) Board examination will be considered provided the candidate does not reappear for the Class XII (or equivalent) examination in 2015 in any of the subjects.
• The marks scored by a candidate in the 2015 Class XII (or equivalent) Board examination will be considered for candidates who pass the Class XII examination in 2015.

Entities of JoSAA-2015

The Joint Admission Board, JEE (Advanced) 2015 [JAB 2015] (i) Conducts JEE (Advanced) 2015 and (ii) Frames the policies and norms for seat allocation to IITs and ISM. The JEE Apex Board conducts JEE (Main) 2015. The Central Seat Allocation Board [CSAB] 2015 frames the policies and norms for seat allocation to NITs, IIITs (Triple-I-Ts) and Other-GFTIs. Joint Seat Allocation Authority [JoSAA] 2015 consists of representatives from the JAB 2015 and CSAB 2015. No agency other than JoSAA 2015 is responsible for joint seat allocation. Candidates seeking information / assistance from any agency / agent other than JoSAA 2015 shall be doing so at their own risk and cost.

Some General Information about JoSAA-2015

Indian Institutes of Technology [IITs] and Indian School of Mines [ISM] offer several academic programs for which admission is on the basis of JEE (Advanced) 2015. 

National Institutes of Technology [NITs], Indian Institutes of Information Technology [IIITs or Triple-I-Ts] and a few other technical Institutes funded fully or partially by Central or a State government [Other-GFTIs] offer academic programs for which admission is on the basis of JEE (Main) 2015. 

The names of IITs, ISM, NITs, IIITs (Triple-I-Ts) and Other-GFTIs are listed in Annexure 1. The academic programs, along with the category-wise intake capacity, will be announced on the online portal https://josaa.nic.in as per the timeline given in Annexure 2. The business rules stated herein will be followed for allocating seats for the above referenced academic programs for the academic year 2015-16. 

A candidate chooses and applies to a series of academic programs in a certain order of priority. In the context of seat allocation, “academic program” refers to the combination of academic program and Institute. For example, 4-year B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Bombay is referred to Page | 2 as an “academic program”. Another example of an academic program is 4-year B.Tech. in Biotechnology at NIT Calicut. A seat to the highest possible choice of academic program is allocated to the candidate considering the following factors: 

(i) The category [GEN, OBC-NCL, SC, etc.] of the candidate 
(ii) The position of the candidate in rank list(s) 
(iii) The prioritization of academic programs by the candidate 
(iv) The availability of seats in different seat categories / seat quotas for which the candidate is eligible for 
(v) The business rules

List of Abbreviations

AIR : All India Rank 

CBSE  : Central Board of Secondary Education 

CoBSE : Council of Boards of School Education 

CRL : Common Rank List 

CSAB : Central Seat Allocation Board 

DS : Defence Services 

GEN : General (with respect to the category of a candidate) 

GFTI : Government Funded Technical Institutes (these are 

Institutes that are funded either partially or fully by Central / a State Government) 

IIIT : Indian Institute of Information Technology 

IIT : Indian Institute of Technology 

ISM : Indian School of Mines 

JAB : Joint Admission Board 

JEE : Joint Entrance Examination 

JoSAA : Joint Seat Allocation Authority 

NIT : National Institute of Technology 

OBC-NCL : Other Backward Classes – Non-Creamy Layer 

PwD : Person with Disability 

SC : Scheduled Caste 

ST : Scheduled Tribe