• KDU to resume local students admission 

Attorneys representing both the petitioners and the respondents in the Fundamental Rights petition filed by a group of students seeking an interim injunction to prevent the implementation of a decision not to admit local students to study for a medical degree at the General John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU), informed the Supreme Court yesterday (7) that the case could be settled amicably.

The petition was heard yesterday before a three-Judge bench, comprising President’s Counsel and Chief Justice Murdu Fernando, and Justices Mahinda Samayawardhena and Menaka Wijesundara.

Attorney-at-law Hafeel Farisz, appearing on behalf of the petitioners, told the bench that there is potential for the case to be settled amicably. He stated that the respondents had issued a statement allowing local students to be admitted to the University’s Medical Faculty once again. Accordingly, he requested the Court to grant a date to present written instructions obtained from his clients regarding the matter and to provide relevant submissions.

Deputy Solicitor General Nirmalan Wigneswaran, appearing on behalf of the Attorney General, also agreed to the request.

Therefore, the bench ordered the case to be called again on 24 July to allow the petitioners time to present written instructions concerning the settlement.

The petition was filed by five students, including Fathima Abdul Faleel and Dulanka de Silva, and names several parties, including the Board of Governors of the KDU, as respondents. The petitioners stated that they had hoped to pursue a medical degree at the University for the 2025/2026 academic year. They also noted that according to a Cabinet of Ministers decision taken last year (in 2024), local students would be allowed to pay and pursue medical degrees at the University, and that they had therefore hoped to be admitted accordingly. However, the petitioners noted that the Deputy Minister of Defence Major General Aruna Jayasekara (Retd.), had stated in the Parliament that a decision had been taken to admit only foreign students and officer cadets for the medical degree programme, excluding local civilian students. They further claimed that the university’s official website had later announced that local students would not be admitted to the medical degree programme. The petitioners allege that this decision constitutes a severe injustice to them and a violation of their fundamental human rights. They have requested the SC to deliver a ruling accordingly.