M.R.N Silva & Others v. Sri Lanka Medical Council & Others – SC FR 399/2019-2020

Brief
In the case between medical graduates such as M.R.N. Silva, M.D.K.P.M. Bamunuge, and other petitioners versus the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC), the Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, the Director General of Health Services, and the Attorney General’s Department, the issue concerned the lawfulness of the SLMC’s imposition of a “pre-entry qualification” on foreign-educated medical graduates seeking registration. The court determined that the SLMC’s requirement was ultra vires and amounted to an infringement of the petitioners’ fundamental rights under Articles 12(1) and 14(1)(g) of the Constitution. It was established that the authority of the SLMC under the Medical Ordinance does not include the power to impose qualifications beyond those prescribed by Parliame