The Supreme Court, in a judgment concerning a Fundamental Rights petition filed by 66 graduates holding bachelor’s degrees from various foreign universities, affirmed that foreign university graduates, like their counterparts from state universities, are proud citizens of Sri Lanka.
The Court ruled that former Secretary to the Ministry of Public Services J.J. Rathnasiri violated the fundamental rights of the 66 graduates by rejecting their applications for placement under the Government’s 2020 “Scheme to provide training and employment to unemployed graduates.”
A three-judge bench, comprising Justices Yasantha Kodagoda, Achala Wengappuli, and Arjuna Obeyesekere (who delivered the judgment), held that excluding the petitioners solely because their degrees were awarded by foreign universities violated Article 12(1) of the Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law. The Court ordered the State to pay each petitioner Rs. 5,000 as nominal costs.
The petitioners had obtained their degrees through various routes: some studied at Indian universities on scholarships awarded by the Ministry of Higher Education and the High Commission of India in Sri Lanka; others pursued internal or external programmes at foreign institutions, including those conducted locally through affiliated bodies. Their applications under the 2020 graduate training and employment scheme were rejected solely on the basis that their qualifications were not from local universities.
The petitioners requested recognition as trainee graduates effective from 16 August 2020, but the Court noted that five years had passed, making such retroactive recognition impractical.
The judgment also referred to a Cabinet Memorandum submitted by the Attorney General, highlighting ongoing considerations regarding graduate recruitment to the public sector. The Court directed the current Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration to bring the judgment’s principles, based on a draft prepared by the Attorney General, to the attention of the Secretary to the Cabinet of Ministers. The Cabinet has been asked to take appropriate steps to remedy the injustice faced by the petitioners.
The Court emphasised that foreign university graduates, like state university graduates, should not face arbitrary or discriminatory treatment based on the location of their degrees. The rejection of their applications constituted discrimination, lacked a rational basis, and infringed upon their constitutional rights to equality and to engage in lawful employment.
Senior Counsel Shantha Jayawardena and Hirannya Damunupola represented the petitioners, while Deputy Solicitor General Yuresha De Silva and Senior State Counsel Sabrina Ahamed appeared for the respondents.
