Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka stated on Thursday that it will not interfere with the Supreme Court’s order making it mandatory for NRIs and foreign nationals to clear NEET to obtain medical seats for the academic year 2016-17.

Meanwhile, the court also said that genuine candidates’ already admitted under NRI/foreign national quota up to September 1, 2016 in petitioner institutions shall not be disturbed for two weeks to enable them to approach a superior court. Justice Jayant Patel and Justice S N Satyanarayana pronounced the order and disposed the petitions.

Manipal University and a few other colleges had filed a petition seeking to quash the communication dated August 3, issued by the Medical Council of India (MCI) directing medical colleges to fill 15 per cent NRI quota seats only from the merit list prepared on the basis of marks obtained in the NEET examination.

The petitioners also had contended that NRI students are a separate and distinct class and cannot be clubbed with Indian students.