The Supreme Court on Friday, August 26 issued a notice to the Centre and others on a batch of petitions filed by Indian students who have been evacuated from Ukraine and seeking permission to continue medical studies in India.
A bench headed by justice Hemant Gupta issued notice on the plea and listed the matter in September, as stated in a report by ANI.
The plea was filed by evacuated students, who have sought the urgent indulgence of the court in light of the extraordinary situation which has presented itself in the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine war crisis which has gravely interfered with their education.
The unfortunate events in Ukraine have led to the evacuation of students and consequently, their education has inevitably come to a stand-still.
What do the petitions say?
One of the petitions filed through advocate Ashwarya Sinha said that the education of about 14,000 evacuated Indian students has come to a complete halt as their careers stand to be irreparably jeopardised and their fundamental rights protected under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India have become “illusory.”
The advocate also said the evacuated students, including the petitioners herein, are going through immense mental hardship and agony since their entire career hangs in ambiguity and their education has virtually come to a standstill since February 2022, with no foreseeable restoration of peace in the war-torn country.
"The unfortunate situation which has transpired in the present case is that the petitioners are neither in a position to resume their education at their respective institutions in Ukraine nor permitted to continue their education at institutions in India under the present regulations," the petition said, as per ANI.
Therefore, the petitioners have also sought to issue an appropriate direction under Section 45 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, upon the NMC to frame guidelines and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedure) for the migration of Indian medical students who have been evacuated from Ukraine to Indian medical colleges as a one-time measure in the equivalent academic year.
The petition also sought to issue directions upon the Centre to issue necessary directions under Section 46 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019; and an appropriate direction upon the respondents to provide adequate infrastructural/academic and financial support for the continuation of medical education of the evacuated Indian students from Ukraine.
Additionally, the petition sought to formulate guidelines by exercising jurisdiction conferred under Article 142 of the Constitution of India in light of the extraordinary situation on account of the ongoing war in Ukraine for protecting the interests of the evacuated students and their migration to Indian medical colleges.
More petitions
A bunch of other writ petitions were also filed by a batch of Kerala students who were led by Senior Advocate R Basant. It was argued on behalf of students that the NMC has selectively extended protection of education only to students who have completed their degrees and only whose clinical training and internship remain, whereas students who are in the midst of their courses have been left without any viable option to complete their courses, as informed by advocate Sinha.
An argument was also raised that other statutory authorities such as the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) taking cognisance of the extraordinary circumstances and have duly directed for the accommodation of evacuated students from Ukraine into Indian Engineering colleges. Therefore, the action of NMC to not extend any benefit to the students currently, in the midst of their courses, is ex-facie arbitrary and discriminatory amounting to infringement of fundamental rights of the petitioner students, informed Sinha.
