The Supreme Court today, Friday, September 16, suggested that the Union Government can create a web portal which will include the details of foreign universities where the Ukraine-returned Indian medical students can complete their respective courses according to the academic mobility programme approved by the National Medical Commission (NMC).

Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia on the bench, suggested that the system should be transparent and that the web portal could give fee details and the number of seats in the alternate foreign universities, which are compatible for students, as stated in a report by LiveLaw. 

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta sought time to get instructions from the Union Government regarding the same. The case has been adjourned accordingly till Friday, September 23, as per LiveLaw. 

Additionally, although the bench orally observed that while India cannot accommodate the 20,000-30,000 students, it noted that the government could use its resources to help them in choosing alternate universities that are compatible for them.

The court was hearing a bunch of petitions filed to address the plight of Ukraine-returned Indian medical students who have been demanding accommodation in medical colleges in the country. Yesterday, September 15, the Centre mentioned that the students went to Ukraine to study medicine because of two reasons, which are affordability and the inability to score well in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) exam. This, as was stated, meant poor merit of the students, and it was not possible to accommodate such students in premier Indian medical colleges.

“Allowing poor merit students in premier medical colleges in India can lead to other litigations. Also, they won't be able to afford the fee structure,” the Centre said in the Court, as mentioned in a tweet by LiveLaw.