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| Saturday, 9 August 2003 |
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by Wasantha Ramanayake The Supreme Court ordered the University Grants Commission (UGC) to admit five undergraduates to a Medical Faculty and another to the Faculty of Veterinary Science in the Fundamental Rights application filed by them. The court held that the refusal to admit the petitioners to the respective faculties was contrary to the decision of the Cabinet , unreasonable, arbitrary discriminatory, and violative of the rights of the petitioners. The court further ordered the UGC to pay the petitioners Rs. 40,000 each as cost. The Bench comprised Justices Mark Fernando PC, T.B. Weerasuriya and Nihal Jayasinghe. Justice Fernando PC observed "Justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done. And in the field of higher education this requires that the system of university admission must not only be fair, but seen to be fair." Petitioners Nadeeka Hewage, Gayani Widanapathirana, Himali Mawalla, Ishwari Rajapaksha and Gayathri Wijegunawardane cited the UGC and several others as respondents. They claimed at their second attempt in the G.C.C Advanced Level Examination held in August 2001, they were selected to Science, Veterinary and the Agriculture faculties. Further, they also sat for the same examination in 2001, that was their last attempt in order to gain admission to a Medical Faculty. They alleged that the UGC failed to admit them to the Medical Faculty, in terms of a Cabinet decision in which the UGC took additional 47 students to Medical faculties. They further stated that their Z-score was higher than the cut off mark for the said additional batch. Jutice Fernando held that the said Cabinet decision was valid for the petitioners as well. |
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