Bhubaneswar, Aug. 7: Private medical colleges and dental colleges in the state cannot hold common entrance tests for students seeking admission to MBBS courses through the non-resident Indian (NRI) quota. They can only be admitted on the basis of merit, a Supreme Court order has said.

The apex court on Friday dismissed a plea from the Odisha Private Medical and Dental Colleges Association to let them fill up the 15 per cent NRI seats on their own.

Challenging the Odisha Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission of Fixation of Fee) Act, 2007, the association had moved the Supreme Court seeking permission to fill the NRI seats by conducting its own entrance examination for the academic year 2012-13.

It also wanted to hold its own entrance tests for filling up the seats that fell vacant after the first round of counselling.

“The order will effect similar cases pending against the government in the high court filed by private engineering institutions and associations of the state,” a senior government official said.

“With the apex court’s order, the confusion surrounding the fate of the NRI seats is now over. Not only will it prevent the misuse of the NRI quota, it will also go a long way in ensuring that quality students passed out of these colleges,” he said.

Sources in the department said that since a private medical college came under controversy this year, the remaining two colleges had been getting good response from students who were willing to pay to grab a seat.

Forty cases have been filed against the Directorate of Technical Education and Training this year by various engineering colleges and associations.

A similar case by Odisha Private Engineering Colleges Association in the high court last year had led to the stay on admissions to the NRI seats in the state.

This year, admissions to 5,993 NRI seats in various engineering colleges in the state has been stayed.