The Centre on Monday in the Supreme Court indicated that the Ministry of External Affairs may have taken a “favourable view” towards allowing Indian students who fled strife-torn Ukraine to continue their medical studies in India even as it sought time to consult the Health Ministry.
Appearing before a Bench led by Justice Hemant Gupta, Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta sought time to consult the Health Ministry, which he said was the nodal Ministry in the issue.
The court adjourned the case to September 15.
The court had earlier issued notice to the government on a batch of seven writ petitions seeking relief for nearly 20,000 students who had returned from Ukraine.
The petitioners had relied on a report by the Lok Sabha Committee on External Affairs to buttress their case. In that report, the committee had recommended the Health Ministry to consider accommodating these students in private medical colleges in India as a one-time measure.
The petitioners had approached the court to intervene on their behalf with the government and the National Medical Commission. However, the court, in the previous hearing before issuing notice, had subjected the petitioners’ lawyers to a round of tough questions.
“There are 20,000 students. Does India have the capacity to accommodate these students?” the court had asked.
However, senior advocate R. Basant and advocate Raghenth Basant, had argued that the petitioners were no less meritorious than medical students studying in India.
They had pointed out that the students who went to Ukraine had cleared the NEET, but could not secure admission due to the limited government seats. They could not have afforded the fees of private medical colleges in India, the advocates said.
Mr. Basant had said this was an extraordinary situation. The trouble in Ukraine had dashed the hopes of the students. They had invested their money in their education. The senior lawyer had submitted that the Centre had the power to help the students under the National Medical Commission Act.
