Devan Ramachandran, J.

1. The ultimate reliance for a fair operation of any standard is that the systems conceived for its working is of the highest efficiency and that there is a constant play of informed critique upon its functioning. Quality, specially in the field of medical and other professional education, can be ensured only by strict and constant commitment to certain standards that achieve uniformity.

2. The medical profession, in particular, deserves resources, both human and other, which will guarantee, to the limits to which it can brook, the highest quality of health care to the citizens. The fundamental intention behind all processes put in place to identify quality of students is that education, especially medical, must not be seen to be one that can be purchased without merit. It is this felicitous intent that has marshalled the courts, including the Hon'ble Supreme Court, while dealing with the issues and processes relating to admissions to medical and allied courses.

3. The facts that are presented before us in this case also demonstrate certain similar situations.

4. Ten students, who are the petitioners in this writ petition, claim that they were admitted to the course leading to MBBS degree under the Malabar Medical College and Research Centre, Modakkalur, Kozhikode, of which the third respondent is the Principal. According to the petitioners, some of them were admitted in the management quota while the others in the Non Resident Indian (NRI) quota. The pleadings would show that petitioners 2, 3, 6 and 9 were admitted in the management quota, while petitioners 1, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10 were admitted in the NRI quota.

5. The method of admission to the Professional Colleges under the provisions of the Kerala Professional Colleges or Institutions (Prohibition of Capitation Fee, Regulation of Admission, Fixation of Non-Exploitative Fee and Other Measures to Ensure Equity and Excellence in Provisional Education) Act, 2006 (for short, 'the Act') invests the Admission Supervisory Committee (for short, 'the Committee'), which is constituted therein, with the power of regulating admissions in unaided Professional Colleges and Institutions. The powers of the Committee is postulated in Section 4 of the Act, where-under they have the power to supervise and control the entire processes of admission of students in the unaided Professional Colleges and Institutions with the imperative legislative intent to ensure that the process is fair, transparent, merit based and non-exploitative.

6. The vanguard of the entire process above, is the Committee, which is expected to verify the processes undertaken by each of the Institutions and to confirm that their actions are in terms and in conformity with the specific mandate of the Act, as well as the various judgments of the Hon'ble Supreme Court and of this Court, to ensure that the process is merit based and transparent.

7. After the petitioners' admissions were ordered by the college, they approached the Committee, as is required under the provisions of the Act, for approval of such admissions which, however, led to Ext.P1 order, under which the Committee, after scrutinizing the documents submitted by the Principal of the college, found that the admissions of four candidates, namely the second, third, sixth and ninth petitioners are made outside the list published by the Medical College and therefore, that the admissions were not in consonance with the directives issued by it from time to time. Similarly, as regards the admissions of the first, fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth and tenth petitioners, who were offered admission in the NRI quota, the Committee found factually that their names were also not included in the online application list published and submitted by the College and therefore, ordered that the admission of the above six candidates were also to be rejected. The petitioners have challenged Ext.P1 in this writ petition as being illegal and unconstitutional.

8. We ha