Calcutta High Court on Monday struck down a list of 76 MBBS aspirants selected for admission to KPC Medical College and Hospital under its "management quota" and directed the institute to fill those seats based on the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test.

"The college authorities will have to fill the management quota by following the guidelines framed by the MCI (Medical Council of India). The guidelines clearly say that private colleges will have to admit students in the management quota from among candidates in the NEET and on the basis of their positions on the merit list," Justice Debangshu Basak said in his interim order.

The judge also directed the private institute to complete its admission process by September 30.

Jadavpur-based KPC Medical College has 150 MBBS seats, 77 of which are part of the management quota. Students selected for admission in this category pay a "management fee", besides tuition and administrative charges.

While the MCI hasn't scrapped the management quota, all private medical colleges are required to take candidates for the MBBS course based on their performance in the national entrance test.

An MCI official said from Delhi that the state governments had been empowered to fix the standard admission fee for management-quota MBBS seats. In Bengal, that amounts to around Rs 35 lakh for the entire course, health department officials said.

The directive to KPC Medical College is in response to a petition by Sreyashi Ghosh, who had appeared in the state joint entrance examinations but didn't make the cut in any state-run medical college. The petition argues that her rank in the test makes her eligible for admission to a private medical college under the management quota.

Bengal has four private medical colleges, of which KPC is Sreyashi's choice. She moved court on being denied admission by the Jadavpur institute. "Candidates ranked below my client on the merit list have got admission under the management quota. The MCI guidelines clearly say that the merit list must be followed for management-quota admissions too," her counsel Anindya Lahiri said.

Appearing for the medical college, lawyer Probal Mukherjee said the management had invited applications from candidates for the management quota between August 27 and 30. The dates had been fixed during a meeting on August 22, he said.

"On September 2, 76 candidates were selected on first-come-first-served basis. The process was completed in the presence of a representative of the state health department."

After hearing both sides, Justice Basak asked KPC Medical College to file an affidavit and "maintain" documents pertaining to admission in the management quota over the past five years.

"We are keeping a close watch on the developments and will follow whatever the court says," said Sushanta Banerjee, director of medical education in Bengal.