The government on Monday said private medical, dental and paramedical colleges affiliated to state universities will have to seek permission from a new committee before starting admissions for the 2012-13 academic year.

The state's decision to constitute a panel to monitor admissions comes after several scams were exposed in granting seats in medical and dental colleges in the state.

The Committee to Regulate-Monitor Admissions of Students to Professional Courses by Self-Financing Minority/Non-Minority Medical & Paramedical Colleges set up by the government will be headed by Justice A Abdul Hadi. Its mandate will be to ensure a fair and transparent admission process.

The committee will include health secretary Girija Vaidyanathan, as member secretary, Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University vice-chancellor Mayilvahanan Natarajan, former varsity VC K Ananda Kannan, and former dean of Stanley Medical College and Hospital, S K Rajan.

From now on, the monitoring committee will issue guidelines to be followed for admission of students, only after the higher secondary exams (class 12) are completed. "We believe that most colleges sell seats even before the public examinations. In some cases, students are made to appear for fake entrance exams. All entrance exams held before public examinations and without our permission will be invalid," a senior health department official said.

Admissions made without obtaining permission from the committee will be invalid.

The health department has advised students and their parents to check if advertisements and applications are issued by institutions after obtaining permission from the committee. The committee has not yet given permission to any association or college to start the admission process for the academic year 2012-2013.

Officials said D D Medical College and Hospital, Tiruvallur, had advertised on February 1 for admissions to MBBS courses. "If any admission is made by this institution without permission, it will not be valid," they said.