Cuttack, Jan. 4: Orissa High Court today set a two-week deadline for the state government to come up with a revival plan for Sardar Rajas Medical College at Jaring in Kalahandi.

The division bench of Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice D.P. Choudhury issued the direction after the state government submitted an affidavit saying all the 124 students of the medical college had been accommodated in five medical colleges - two government and three private.

The bench noted that such an institution should not be closed down "in the best interests of the state and the nation". It expected the state government to take "remedial steps to revive the institution in order to serve the needs of the public of the state and the local area in which it is located".

Selvam Educational and Charitable Trust had set up the institution in a public-private-partnership mode through Western Odisha Development Council (WODC). The state government had provided land free of cost and a substantial amount of money for it.

On September 30 last year, the state cabinet had directed the WODC to take over functioning of the medical college or find another suitable private partner to revive the institution through public-private partnership.

Later, the WODC rescinded its memorandum of understanding with the trust. It claimed that the trust had failed to fulfil its obligations and did not comply with the key terms and conditions of the agreement.

The medical college, with 100 MBBS seats, had earlier enrolled 124 students in two batches for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 sessions with the permission of the Medical Council of India (MCI).

However, the MCI refused to grant recognition to the institution for 2015-16 due to substantial deficiencies identified during inspection.

All the students were relocated following intervention by the high court.

In its affidavit, the state government said that of the 109 students admitted to government medical colleges, 55 were now at MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur and the remaining 54 at Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Science and Research (VIMSAR) in Burla.

The remaining 15 students have been admitted through management quota at three private medical colleges in Bhubaneswar - Hi Tech Medical College, Kalinga Institute of Medical Science and Institute of Medical Science & Sum Hospital. Each of the colleges accommodated five students.

Taking note of it, the bench directed the state government to ensure that the students transferred from Rajas were able to "make-up for the time lost". The court expected the state government to ensure that these students were able to attend classes from January 6.

The two government medical colleges at Burla and Berhampur have been witnessing agitations against the transfer and admission of the students of Rajas at their colleges.

The students argue that the MCI had refused to increase the number of seats in their colleges on the ground that they lacked required infrastructure.

Some of the students of the two colleges have filed a special leave petition challenging the high court order in the Supreme Court.

The petition is scheduled for hearing tomorrow.