Students returned from Ukraine cannot be accommodated in Indian universities: Centre tells SC
New Delhi, Sep 15 : In a big setback to those students who returned to India in the middle of their study from Ukraine following the war with Russia, central government, in its affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, said that they cannot be accommodated in Indian universities as there is no provision in the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act allowing it.
The Centre, in its affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, said that such relaxation will hamper standards of medical education in India.
“Students went to foreign countries due to two reasons — poor merit in NEET and affordability. 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 Central government said.
The affidavit was filed by the secretary of the Health Ministry, while responding to a batch of petitions filed before the Supreme Court seeking relief for Indian students who had to abandon their medical courses in Ukraine midway, after the war broke out between Ukraine against Russia.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear tomorrow the same batch of petitions seeking permission to allow around 20,000 Indian students, who returned midway from their study from Ukraine during the Russian invasion, to complete their medical education in India.
A two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Hemant Gupta and also comprising Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, will hear the batch of petitions tomorrow.
The petitioners urged the top court to exercise its jurisdiction keeping in view the extraordinary situation on account of the ongoing war in Ukraine to protect the interests of the evacuated students and their migration to Indian Medical Colleges.
“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.
The petitioners have sought direction under Section 45 of the NMC Act, 2019, to frame guidelines and SOPs 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.
They said the Centre should provide adequate infrastructural/academic and financial support for the continuation of medical education of the evacuated Indian students from Ukraine.
