Supreme Court orders admission of student to medical faculty

A fundamental rights violation occurred when the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the medical faculty application of a Sri Lankan student who qualified through overseas examinations. The Supreme Court issued a directive to the UGC to enrol the student, Damsith Jayaratne, into a local medical faculty immediately.

The decision was delivered by a three-judge bench comprising Janak de Silva, Arjuna Obeysekera, and Dr Sobhitha Rajakaruna. The court found that the rejection of the student's application breached the right to equality guaranteed under Article 12(1) of the Constitution.

The petitioner moved to Russia after his father, a Group Captain in the Sri Lankan Air Force, received an appointment as a defence advisor at the Sri Lankan Embassy. Having completed his GCE Ordinary Levels at Royal College, Colombo, the student passed his Senior School Certificate at an international school in Russia—a qualification recognised as equivalent to the Sri Lankan GCE Advanced Level.

Despite qualifying under the criteria for children of diplomats or government officials stationed abroad, his application submitted through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was initially turned down. The Supreme Court ruled that the petitioner fully met the requirements for university entry and that the initial administrative decision to block his admission was unlawful.