PUDUCHERRY: The Madras High Court has directed the Medical Council of India (MCI) to immediately initiate action against Sri Venkateswara Medical College Hospital and Research Institute, a private medical college in Puducherry, for having violated clause 5(7) of the MCI regulations by admitting four students unilaterally instead of the students listed by CENTAC.

Dismissing a petition from the institution, Justice N Anand Venkatesh, who passed the order,  directed the college to refund the entire amount received from the four students at the time of their admission. He also directed the institution to pay a compensation of Rs one lakh to each of the four students for casuing them mental agony and hardship.

Justice Venkatesh requested the Puducherry government to see if those four students can be accommodated in any other institution during the selection in the coming academic year based on their merit.

According to the petitioner, as many as 150 seats were allotted to the institution for MBBS course out of which 55 were allotted for government quota and 95 for management quota.

Four seats remained vacant in government quota after two rounds of regular counselling and one round of mop-up counselling by CENTAC. To fill the vacant seats, CENTAC sent a list of 40 students in the ratio of 1:10 on August 27, the last date of filling the seats being August 30. According to the institution, none of the 40 students expressed interest in joining the course and it informed CENTAC. As there was no response from CENTAC, the institution admitted the four students on its own. However, Pondicherry University did not approve the candidature of the four students as they were not admitted through CENTAC. Therefore, the institution moved the court.

The respondents -- MCI and Puducherry government -- maintained that the institution has no authority to fill the four vacant seats on its own and the admission of the students was illegal and done for extraneous reason.

The judge observed that the four students had been admitted unilaterally without any authority.
"The admission has been in violation of MCI regulation and directions of the Supreme Court. The four students have got into a trap and their admission is illegal. MCI regulations make it clear that no institution should admit any candidate to MBBS course in contravention of the procedure laid down by the regulations and in violation of the judgment of Supreme Court. Serious action will be taken against any institution which violates these rules. The petitioner should not have filled the vacant seats as  it has no authority to do so," Justice Venkatesh said.