Pleas demanding accommodation in Indian medical colleges by students who have returned from Ukraine were set to be heard by the Supreme Court today, November 1. However, the hearing has now been postponed and a new date has not been assigned yet. "The hearing will take place tomorrow, most probably. We will know for sure by today evening," said one of the petitioner's lawyers. He added that the postponement came forth since the Bench is occupied with hearing an unrelated constitutional matter today. He added that since the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has intensified, it is best that the case is heard soon.
Archita, one of the petitioners, and a student from Amritsar, who studies at the Kharkiv National Medical University in Ukraine, additionally informed that all the pleas relating to the accommodation of Ukraine-returned students in India have been bunched together and will now be heard by a three-judge Bench. The matter was earlier being heard by a two-judge Bench constituting Justices Hemant Gupta and Vikram Nath.
After Justice Gupta retired on October 16, the case was referred to a Bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Abhay S Oka and Vikram Nath. Archita stated that the counsels representing the Centre and the National Medical Commission were not present in the previous hearing which took place on October 11. "List all the matters on 01.11.2022 to await the Union of India to take a decision," the court had then ordered.
About 20,000 Indian students returned from Ukraine when Russia declared war on the country in February. They have been demanding to be accommodated in Indian medical colleges to continue their clinical training and medical education. However, the Centre is not ready to comply with this request. As such, a majority of the students are making do with online classes from their respective universities in Ukarine, while some have transferred to various universities in other countries. On the other hand, a group of students have taken the risk to go back to Ukraine amidst the war to continue physical classes and training.
