The Mumbai high court on Thursday restrained private engineering and medical colleges in Maharashtra from going ahead with the admission process and stopped them from collecting money from students.

The order followed reports about private medical colleges collecting huge capitation fees.

Justice Ajit Shah and Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud adjourned to July 8 a bunch of petitions filed by engineering and medical colleges, which challenged the admission process of holding common entrance test and the fee structure.

The petitioners contended that the common entrance test should be conducted by them and not the government, and that the private colleges should have the right to decide the fee structure and select the candidates.

The engineering colleges said they were following a Supreme Court order that gave them rights to select their own students and fix the fee structure.

The colleges have also challenged a state government resolution that allowed 15 per cent management quota and permitted the rest of the admissions through a common entrance test.