The school has been alleged to be discriminatory against OCI or Overseas Citizen Of India students as well because many OCI students have attended school in India for several years and their families are also employed in India.
The Supreme Court said Thursday, “India is known for the inclusiveness of its citizens.” While permitting OCIs or Overseas Citizen of India or Overseas Citizen of India to apply for admission to all open undergraduate medical seats for the academic year 2021-22 on a competitive basis with Indian citizens, the Court noted a number of other factors.
Considering that (government) can bring non-citizens from neighbouring countries to India and make them citizens, except for one community, these foreigners (OCIs or Overseas Citizen of India or Overseas Citizen of India) are essential citizens of India. There is a reputation for inclusiveness in India. You can find out what your CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) does by reviewing it.
The Supreme Court made even non-citizens of this country citizens, the bench of justices SA Nazeer and Krishna Murari told additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati. In the debate, ASG Aishwarya Bhati claimed that citizens of other countries are required to fulfill a lower threshold to become citizens of India. Then they will be recognized as full Indian citizens after staying in the country for 12 months. She asked why petitioners do not adhere to the same rules as Indian citizens and why they don’t act like them.
Additionally, the Additional Solicitor General argued that citizens of foreign states are treated as foreigners since they bear the allegiance of such a state. Furthermore, she pointed out that OCIs or Overseas Citizen of India or Overseas Citizen of India being treated on the same basis as general categories would deny Indian aspirants who aspire to work in the medical field in India a fair chance.
Furthermore, she explained that there was a good chance that these successful OCI candidates would return to their respective countries with their medical degrees after they have completed their studies in India.
On March 4, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notification maintaining OCI candidates on equal footing with non-resident Indians (NRIs) for entrance examinations such as the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET), the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and others. Likewise, this order makes certain that non-resident Indian citizens will be competing with NRIs for a limited number of seats, and they will have to pay the same fees as they would for a resident Indian. Some OICs have challenged the notification.
It is worth noting that the CAA and the legal battle held by OCIs or Overseas Citizen of India or Overseas Citizen of India are two very different things. The Indian Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA 2019) to grant citizenship to marginalized minority communities that have been facing persecution because of their religion.
During the passage of this act, the definition of an illegal immigrant was amended to include Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Christian, Jain and Buddhist immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan who were forced to seek shelter in India because of persecution based on their faith. Through this Act, they can become citizens of India in just 6 years rather than 12 years.
The Centre has sought to defend the government’s March 4 notification that referred to OCIs or Overseas Citizen of India or Overseas Citizen of India and NRIs as the same when it comes to national entrance examinations such as the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) and the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE). By requiring OCIs or Overseas Citizen of India or Overseas Citizen of India to pay the same fee as NRIs, the federal government ensured that they would compete for the limited number of seats in technical and medical education.
There was a dispute involving this notification from several OCI students on the grounds that it was arbitrarily issued. As part of their claim, they also alleged that the OCI policy is discriminatory since many of the students have attended schools in India for several years and their families also work there.
The holders of OCI cards are permitted to live and work in India for as long as they want. Since independence, many OCIs or Overseas Citizen of India or Overseas Citizen of India have returned to India with their children, but they have not applied for Indian citizenship and/or relinquished their foreign citizenship.
As argued by attorneys Vikas Singh, Anitha Shenoy, and Devadatt Kamat, the petitioners cannot afford the exorbitant fees that accompany seats for foreign nationals whose families are permanently living in the west and have more access to financial resources.
Bhathi argued, nevertheless, that OCIs or Overseas Citizen of India or Overseas Citizen of India should not be given any extraordinary consideration since they had voluntarily chosen to give up Indian citizenship and switched allegiances to another country, as opposed to the NRIs who continue to be Indian citizens.
Nevertheless, the bench retorted that the OCIs or Overseas Citizen of India or Overseas Citizen of India are also of Indian descent.
It’s not like they’re outsiders, they’re all of Indian heritage. They have also contributed to our country with dollars. The majority of them don’t have money like nationals from overseas, they had a right to expect something from you, and then you cut them off that benefit. Bhati was warned that a notification like that could be perceived as arbitrary, if not illegal, by the court.
In the report, the government stressed that the main argument was the timing of the notification, as the government abruptly ended the benefits for OCIs or Overseas Citizen of India or Overseas Citizen of India while the examination process was in progress. They will be asked to deposit the fees applicable to NRIs when they are getting ready for their counselling. It was quite surprising that you suddenly stopped receiving benefits in the middle of the process. The Court asked the ASG that what else could be more arbitrary?
The justice, who hails from Karnataka, referred to his own state when expressing his concerns. There are hardly 10% seats available under the NRI quota. Is it possible for these people to compete in that quota? Those seats are auctioned off in a virtual auction. A syndicate exists in Karnataka called the education mafia. Seats are auctioned off. It is unimaginable in such an environment, the judge commented.
Bhati responded that in India, there are millions of aspiring candidates who are working hard to acquire these seats, and it would be unfair for these individuals if OCIs or Overseas Citizen of India or Overseas Citizen of India were allowed to compete for these same seats without any guarantee about their future employment in India.
The issue is not one of entitlement, but of economics. Parents are not interested in paying more money for their children’s education. Nothing more. She added that even if foreigners aren’t welcome, the government has the right to frame its immigration policies.
The court replied, however, that the competition was there in all the previous years as well and that the new condition about fees effectively removed their rights. “How could you possibly expect them to arrange for such a huge amount in such a short period of time? You have effectively deprived them of their right by putting this condition in place,” the document said.
The court has issued an interim order in favor of the OCI students, saying that the petitioners will be considered eligible to all the medical seats where OCIs or Overseas Citizen of India or Overseas Citizen of India were eligible before the March 4 notification and the National Testing Agency will announce the NEET(UG) 2021 results accordingly. The court sent interim orders saying eligible petitioners can take part in general counseling within the academic year 2021-2022, while adding that the interim orders apply to the academic year 2021-2022 as well.
Anand Shah Bhati (ASG Bhati) approached the bench to ask it to add a condition that such OCI students should apply for Indian citizenship during their studies abroad. The bench responded that it is the Union government’s responsibility to change its notification accordingly.
