Chennai: In the wake of denial of admission into MBBS course to a 17-year old daughter of Sri Lankan Tamil refugee, the Madras high court on Tuesday directed the state government and director of medical education to clarify the status of such children of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees born in the country.
When the PIL filed by high court advocate R. Sri Priya came up for hearing, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M. Sathyanarayanan, the bench passed the interim order directing the government to clarify whether any benefit at all is to be given to the wards of Tamil refugees or not.
The petitioner sought a direction to the dean, government Kilpauk medical college, to reserve an MBBS seat for T. Nandini whose application was rejected since she was the daughter of a Sri Lankan refugee.
The matter pertains to Nandini whose parents hail from Jaffna, Sri Lanka. They came to TN as refugees in 1990. Nandini passed the qualifying examination and was called for counseling. However, her candidature was rejected because she was a SL refugee.
Senior advocate Raghavachari, petitioner’s counsel, submitted that this was an example of how the state sought to override the human rights guaranteed to refugees under the Constitution and the international convention relating to the status of refugees.
In the counter-affidavit, the joint secretary, health and family welfare department, stated that the candidate had applied in the open category and did not secure enough marks. Hence, her application was rejected.
Based on the Madras HC full bench order dated November 1, 2002, the other special categories like Sri Lankan refugees had been deleted from the list.
The bench said, “The authorities have to clarify what could be the status of such a child of Tamil refugees, who happens to be born in India.”
Later, the bench posted the matter for further hearing to September 19.
