Sri Lanka, Feb. 6 -- 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...