The student protesters at SSKM on Tuesday. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Medical students admitted under the non-resident Indian (NRI) quota boycotted classes on Tuesday morning and went on an indefinite fast on the Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research campus, in SSKM Hospital.

The agitators included some students of Midnapore Medical College.

?Quitting the course is not an option,? said Indranil Saha of the institute. ?We appeal to the chief minister, the Prime Minister and the President to do something for us on humanitarian grounds.?

Institute director Prabir Kumar Sur maintained: ?The Supreme Court order must be complied with, and though I sympathise with the 69 students, they will have to go. They will receive refunds.?

The students had paid the first instalment of the total ?enhanced fees? of Rs 9.2 lakh each for admission, but barring 30, the Supreme Court had struck down the admission of 69 others, saying these seats should be filled by those who had qualified in the joint entrance examination (JEE).

State health minister Surjya Kanta Mishra declared at Writers? Buildings that the government was ?concerned? over the students? fate.

?We are exploring ways of rehabilitating them,? he said, adding that the chief minister had spoken to some engineering and technical colleges on this score. ?The court does not agree with our interpretation of successful candidates,? he admitted.

Representatives of the Students? Federation of India (SFI), met the chief minister and submitted a memorandum, urging him to accept responsibility for the ?mess?. ?The government is responsible for the harassment of the students,? said SFI president Sudip Sengupta.

Chief secretary Ashok Gupta said: ?After the apex court order cancelling admission of the students, we have issued notices for fresh admissions.?

Eligible candidates (JEE 2003) have been asked to assemble at the office of the chairperson of the central selection committee (medical) at Calcutta Medical College on Friday at noon.

On Tuesday morning, the medical students found a notice, dated December 13, stating their fate in black and white. Only the first 30 names on the merit list would be admitted to the SSKM institute and Midnapore Medical College, and the admissions of the rest stood ?cancelled with immediate effect?, it read.