Highly skilled Indian workers in the UK won a landmark judgement on Tuesday when the high court ruled that it was 'not open' to the government altering the terms and conditions of an old scheme under which thousands of such employees came to Britain.

Upholding the revision petition filed by the highly skilled migrants programme forum against retrospective changes effected to HSMP in November 2006, the high court in its judgement said: "The old scheme constituted an integrated and entire programme."

It said that it was 'not open to the government to alter the terms and conditions upon which the pre-arranged stages were to be implemented.'

The Forum represented 49,000 highly skilled workers, including doctors, engineers, technocrats -- mostly from India -- who had come to the UK under one of the most popular schemes introduced in January 2002 to attract 'high human capital indviduals', who have the qualifications and skills required by UK businesses to compete in the global marketplace.

Under the scheme points were allocated for educational qualification, age, salary and the UK Experience and UK Study.

But the government effected changes in the scheme in November 2006 under which the HSMP visa holders had to reappear for examination under the new scheme which necessitated higher annual income and had age restrictions to get their visa extended.

Justice Sir George Newman, in his judgment observed: "In the circumstances, I am satisfied that the terms of the original scheme should be honoured and that there is no good reason why those already on the scheme shall not enjoy the benefits of it as originally offered to them.

"Good administration and straightforward dealing with the public require it. Not to restrain the impact of the changes would, in my judgment, give rise to conspicuous unfairness and an abuse of power."

Amit Kapadia, executive director of HSMP Forum, which spearheaded the legal challenge, said he was satisfied with the judgement which vindicated their belief that justice would prevail despite sustained "unfair and discriminatory" treatment by the immigration ministry.

In a statement, Kapadia said: "The unfair and retrospective element of changes to extension criteria of HSMP were highlighted by the Highly Skilled Migrants through their MPs, a petition was handed over to the Prime Minister, a meeting was held with the immigration minister in the House of Commons.

"Presentations were made by several MPs across party lines. Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights as well as Commission for Race Equality had looked into the issue and submitted to the government that the changes were unfair and unlawful."

However, he said, "the immigration department was obsessed with defending their decision and were not open to any reasoning. We had no other recourse but to approach the judiciary and we are glad that our trust in the Democratic Systems has finally been restored."

Baskaran Kumarasamy, executive committee member of the Forum, said: "UK High Court judgement reflects the feelings expressed by thousands of Highly Skilled Migrants and their family members."