The Foreign Ministry has asked New Delhi to justify the withdrawal of travel visas to a small number of Maltese businessmen who were scheduled to join a trade delegation to India leaving on Saturday, The Times has learnt.
The visas were withdrawn last week in what sources close to the Indian government said was a response to the case of five Indian students facing a deportation order. The withdrawn visas belonged to Maltese operators in the education sector.
On Monday, the Foreign Ministry played down the issue, denying any link with the students' case. However, a spokesman yesterday confirmed the government was looking into the matter and, through Malta's High Commissioner in New Delhi, "informally asked the Indian authorities to justify their actions".
The students are facing deportation charges on grounds that they do not have enough money to sustain themselves and that they have breached their student visa conditions by failing to attend school.
They are challenging both charges. However, the manager of the IT school they attended, who reported them, said he would not take them back even if they were cleared by the immigration authorities, a move which would leave them in the lurch. Another IT school, Computer Domain, had stepped in to take the students on board and resolve the diplomatic row, India's honorary consul, Johann Cuschieri said.
The managing director of Computer Domain, Nick Callus said he offered the scholarships for the students' sake and not to see relations between Malta and India go sour over this incident.
"As an operator in the educational sector I do not want this incident to tarnish Malta's reputation abroad. It is a mistake for a school to say it would not accept the students back even if the case is judged in their favour," he said.
Mr Callus spoke to the students about the matter and they agreed to take up the offer. He has called for better regulation of the educational sector in order to ensure everybody complied with high standards.
When asked about quality assurance in private schools in higher education, a spokesman for the Education Ministry admitted legislation had a "serious lacuna".
"The sector requires structured regulation and it is with this in mind that new legislation for further and higher education will include the setting up of the Malta Quality Assurance and Qualifications Authority," the spokesman said.
The five Indian students were in possession of legally-issued visas and were studying management and logistics. They were served with a deportation order after being reported to the police for failing to attend classes. Visas are issued to students on condition they attend school regularly.
The students were held for two weeks at the Ta' Kandja detention centre before being released on bail by the Immigration Appeals Board.
Their legal representative, Leon Bencini, has said they had issues with the school and were denying all charges. "They lost their freedom for two weeks and that is no joke," he said, even though he insisted the police treated them well while in custody.
Top officials from the Indian High Commission in Tripoli, including the High Commissioner, visited Malta a number of times over the past weeks to follow the case closely.
The appeal is still pending.