They also alleged that the government was hand-in-glove with the "cartel" of private professional colleges in the neighboring states which are attracting a large chunk of students from the state taking advantage of the confusion here.

Congress legislator V.D. Satheesan, who wanted the assembly to discuss the issue adjourning the regular business, said a student has to pay Rs.1 million in advance for getting an application form to write the entrance examination for admissions in private medical colleges.

"In these 11 colleges, there are 580 seats in the quota under their management. But only 720 candidates wrote the admission test because of the hefty fee," Satheesan said blaming it on the flawed agreement that the government reached with them.

He said aspirants who were prepared to pay upwards of Rs.2.5 million were allowed to sit for the exams in the past but this year onwards, they were also asked to pay Rs.1 million in advance. Authorities of self-financing colleges also refuse to refund annual fee paid in advance by those who opted for other streams after joining for technical courses.

Officiating for Education Minister M.A. Baby, who is attending Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) central committee meeting in New Delhi along with Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and two other ministers, Law Minister M. Vijayakumar said the fiasco was due to the Medical Council of India (MCI) derecognizing these colleges.

Vijayakumar, who admitted the gravity of the crisis after the MCI action due to lack of facilities in the colleges, also promised to look into Satheesan's allegation about the cost of Rs.1 million to get an application form to write the entrance examination and the denial to refund the fee to students who get better options after reallotment.

Disputing the government's submission, Satheesan said there was no basis for the argument that MCI was responsible for the delay in the admission process and the government had proved itself a total failure in managing professional education.

Before leading the walkout, opposition leader Oommen Chandy said even after four years in office, the LDF was not able to set the admissions in order. Kerala has 18 medical colleges, of which 11 are in the private sector, five are state-run and two in the cooperative sector.

According to the opposition, more than 30,000 students from Kerala have taken entrance tests to private colleges in the neighboring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka states due to the confusion prevailing in the state.

"This is the fifth allotment that your government is making since coming to power and not even one was done smoothly without putting heavy pressure on students," Chandy said. "The whole problem stems out of your agreements with the colleges." Speaker K. Radhakrishnan, who rejected leave for the adjournment motion, also asked the government to take serious note of the situation and take appropriate action.