Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh High Court has stayed the admissions of Non-Residential Indians (NRIs) to private engineering colleges of the state against reserved seats on a 'first come first serve' basis, a petitioner said on Thursday.

According to petitioner Nitin Saxena, central and private organisations had invited admissions to 700 seats for this year's B.E. course through counselling and the NRIs took admissions against reserved seats, which was against the rules.

He requested the court to order that admissions to private engineering colleges be conducted in accordance with the existing rules and regulations.

Hearing the plea on Wednesday, the bench of Chief Justice A.K. Patnaik and Justice Ajit Singh stayed the admissions and issued notices to the state government, the commission and the secretary of Madhya Pradesh Technical Education and the Central Technical Educational Council, asking them to reply to the petitioner's contentions within two weeks. IANS