Evacuation of students from Ukraine mammoth exercise, considering their future studies, SC told

Attorney General (AG) K.K. Venugopal on Monday told the Supreme Court that the central government is considering the issue of further studies of over 20,000 medical students, who have been evacuated from war-torn Ukraine.

Venugopal submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana that a mammoth task has been successfully completed by the central government and 22,500 students from the country and other nationalities have been brought back. He further added that the government is examining the issue of their further studies. The Chief Justice took on record that the government was considering the representation made with regard to future studies of the students.

Petitioner advocate Vishal Tiwari submitted that the education of students should not be hampered and they should be allowed to continue studies in India. After a brief submission in the matter, the top court closed the two petitions.

Besides Tiwari, Fathima Ahana, a student from National Medical University in Odessa, Ukraine had moved the court seeking a direction to the Centre to evacuate the Indian students from Ukraine.

On March 4, the top court told the Centre to consider the anxiety of Indians citizens stuck in Ukraine. The Centre had launched 'Operation Ganga' to evacuate students from different universities in Ukraine.

The AG informed the bench that students from National Medical University in Odessa, Ukraine, who were stranded near the Ukraine-Romania border, have crossed over to Romania. He added that these students would be brought back by Monday night by a special flight.

The AG said he shared the details of the petitioner and others with P.K. Mishra IAS, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, who conveyed it to Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is stationed in Romania to oversee the evacuation of Indian students.

Venugopal added that he has been assured that the petitioner and other students from Odessa have crossed over to Romania and they will reach India tonight.

The bench said: "we sincerely thank you AG, for taking interest in the matter". Senior advocate A.M. Dhar, representing the petitioner Fathima Ahana, thanked the top court for its timely intervention in the matter and also the AG for airlifting the petitioner.

The AG also informed the top court that the Prime Minister had a high-level meeting with ministers to expedite the evacuation of remaining Indians from Ukraine.