Delhi HC Directs Centre To Ensure Welfare Of Indian Students Stranded At Kazakhstan Airport Due To COVID-19

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Ministry of External Affairs to promptly appoint a Nodal Officer from the Indian Embassy in Kazakhstan to ensure the welfare , well-being and safety of Indian students stranded at Almaty Airport, Kazakhstan since the last 2-3 days.

The Nodal Officer has been directed to expeditiously "facilitate, secure and provide the said students with all basic amenities and humanitarian assistance in term of medical care, boarding, food, lodging and transportation, as may be necessary or warranted".

The interim direction was passed by a bench comprising Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh in a hearing conducted via video conferencing.

The petition invited the attention of the Court to the plight of several Indian Students, mostly doing MBBS, who got stranded in Kazakhstan following the cancellation of international flights due to COVID19 pandemic.

The Court has directed that the details of the Nodal Officer - name and telephone number - be communicated to the students and also be uploaded in the official website of Indian Embassy, as well as on the website of the Ministry of External Affairs.

The matter will be considered by the Court again on March 28.

The petition filed by Social Justice Lawyer Advocate Fozia Rahman was mentioned on grounds of urgency to Registrar General, Delhi High Court telephonically yesterday and a video conference hearing took place today at 11:30 AM.

The petitioner's counsel submitted that the students are stranded at the airport and even ran out of basic amenities like food and water which is to be provided to the students and Indian embassy should support them. The students traveled almost 1200 Kms away from their universities to board the flights which were cancelled and now they can't go back to the hostels until they are kept in Quarantine. No food, water, accomodation, transportation and medical aid is available for the students and flights were cancelled without making any alternate arrangements which is a violation of their rights under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, submitted Fozia Rahman. 

This is the first video conferencing hearing held in Delhi HC.

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