The SAITM medical students can register at the Sri Lanka Medical Council if they have completed the MBBS degree, Court of Appeals decided today.

The decision was announced by Court of Appeals President Vijith Malalgoda and Judge S. Thurairajah at the end of the hearing of the petition filed by a SAITM student.

The court observed that according to the Medical Ordinance, the SLMC has to accept the student since SAITM has been gazetted as a degree awarding institution by the then Higher Education Minister in 2011. This notification has not been challenged thereafter, the court observed. According to the UGC Act, this has been done according to the Minister's powers and if the SLMC rejects registration, it will be overriding the Minister's power, the court said.