The Supreme Court upheld on Tuesday a lower court decision rejecting demands for social welfare by a Chinese man claiming that denying such aid to non-Japanese is discriminatory and violates the Constitution.

Handing down the ruling, Chief Justice Masamichi Okuda said, "Whether or not to allow foreigners without a proper visa to apply for social welfare is within the discretion of a legislative body, and the fact that the social welfare law is not applicable to such people does not constitute unreasonable discrimination or violate the Constitution."

According to the court's petty bench, the man came to Japan on a student visa in 1988. After his visa had expired, he stayed in the country illegally. He was seriously injured in a traffic accident in 1994 and was hospitalized.

He applied for social welfare assistance after he was unable to pay his medical bills but was rejected because he was not Japanese and an illegal immigrant.

He filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court, claiming the law's restriction of social welfare to Japanese violates the constitutional guarantees of right to life and equal treatment under the law.

The district court ruled consideration should be given to a foreigner whose life is in danger, but the restriction is not unconstitutional.

The Tokyo High Court in 1997 upheld the lower court decision.