Today, September 15, when a batch of petitions filed by the Ukraine-returned students, who were urging to be accommodated in Indian medical colleges, was heard in the Supreme Court, the Centre (defendant) stated that this could not be done. The Centre stated that the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act does not allow such type of accommodation.
This affidavit was been filed by the Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare responding to a batch of petitions seeking relief for Indian students who came back from war-torn Ukraine and abandoned their medical education, as stated by LiveLaw.
During the hearing, 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 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.
The Indian students who returned from the war-torn country demanded that they be accommodated in government medical colleges, which were affordable for them. They also staged a number of protests and strikes in order that their demand be fulfilled.
The hearing came to take place on September 15, after the Centre filed a counter-petition to the students' pleas for accommodation. The Centre commented that if these students are accommodated in Indian colleges, the standard of education would be hampered.
“The standards of medical education exports are already hampered due to the caste-based reservation system that ignores and further pushes down merits and emphasises on certain class of castes,” the Centre said during the hearing,” as mentioned by LiveLaw.
