The Supreme Court has ordered the University Grants Commission (UGC) to pay Rs.500,000 to a student as legal costs for the failure of the UGC to admit him to a law faculty after disregarding his eligibility.
The Supreme Court further ordered the UGC and UGC Chairman to admit the student to an appropriate University according to his eligibility r as per the Z-score obtained during the GCE A/L Examination. The Court ordered the UGC to admit the applicant to the next available intake.
Justice S. Thurairaja observed that the denial of admission by the UGC had caused not only the cost of litigation but three years of his youth as he would have completed three years of his 4year degree programme if admitted.
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices S. Thurairaja, Murdu Fernando and Yasantha Kodagoda declared that the respondents violated the applicant’s Fundamental Rights enshrined in Article 12(1) of the Constitution.
The applicant states that he applied to the UGC to enter the Faculty of Law of the University of Colombo, Peradeniya or Jaffna, as he was keen on becoming a lawyer.
However, the UGC rejected the application to enter the Faculty of Law. The reason is that the applicant had registered for a three-year course of study to obtain a Higher National Diploma in Technology and Hospitality.
It came to light that the applicant willingly withdrew from the course on 02/07/2018. However, the UGC has turned down his request to be admitted to a University.
Dr Sunil Cooray appeared for the Petitioner. State Counsel Sureka Ahmed appeared for the respondents.
