The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Odisha Government to relocate the Sardar Rajas Medical College Hospital students to three private medical colleges in the State.
The Apex Court directed the State Government to complete the admission process within seven days keeping the admission fees at par with the Government medical colleges.
The Court also cautioned the students not to resort to agitation. If they defy the direction, action would be initiated against them, the court stated.
“The Supreme Court directed to absorb the 124 Sardar Rajas Medical College students in three recognised private medical colleges within seven days. They cannot be admitted to Government medical colleges. They will have to pay fees prevailing at Government medical colleges,” petitioners’ lawyer Ashok Mohapatra said.
The court posted the next hearing of the case to March 14.
“We had enormous faith in the judiciary. We are happy with the judgement,” said Burla VIMSAR Students’ Union president Jayshankar Mishra.
In the earlier hearing on last Friday, the apex court had ordered maintenance of status quo on its earlier interim order barring the Jaring-based Sardar Rajas Medical College students from attending classes in other medical colleges till the final hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
The court had barred the students of the college, who were relocated to five medical colleges, including two Government colleges, from attending classes till the Tuesday hearing.
Notably, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has withdrawn its recognition and affiliation to the Sardar Rajas Medical College on ground of poor infrastructure and inadequate faculty strength earlier this year.
The students had then approached the Orissa High Court for relief. The court had asked the State Government to facilitate admission of these students in two Government and three private medical colleges. Following this, a Special leave Petition (SlP) was filed by students of the three Government medical colleges at the Supreme Court challenging the High Court decision.