The high court on Wednesday cancelled the admission of 21 students to KPC Medical College and Hospital on the ground that the institute had flouted a Medical Council of India rule during counselling.

The rule the private medical college in Jadavpur has violated states that a state government representative has to be present during counselling for admission.

"The college had admitted 21 students on September 30, after the state government representative had left the campus at 4pm. So their admissions stand cancelled," Justice Debangshu Basak ruled. Earlier, while hearing the case, Justice Basak had directed the four private medical colleges in the state to follow the MCI guidelines.

On September 5, Justice Basak had struck down a list of 76 candidates for admission to KPC Medical College under its "management quota" and directed the institute to fill those seats through the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test.

The directive was in response to a petition by Sreyashi Ghosh, whose rank in the state joint entrance examinations was not high enough to make her eligible for admission to any state-run medical college. The petition stated she was eligible for admission to a private medical college under the management quota.

Of the four private medical colleges in the state, KPC was Sreyashi's choice. She moved court on being denied a berth at the institute, alleging that candidates who had ranked below her had been admitted under the management quota in violation of MCI guidelines.

After the court had struck down the list of 76 names, the medical college had to start a fresh admission process. "We received the court order in the afternoon of September 27 and started counselling in the presence of a state health department representative the next day," said Siddhartha Chakraborty, principal, KPC Medical College.

The counselling continued till 4pm on September 30 in the presence of the government representative. Twenty-one seats remained vacant.

"We announced a mop-up counselling on our website and got all the seats filled up. But the students were taken on condition that their admissions were subject to the court's clearance," Chakraborty said.