Gujarat HC junks plea filed by OCI Cardholder Seeking MBBS Admission in General Category

Ahmedabad: Clarifying the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders cannot be equated to a citizen of India, the Gujarat High Court on Monday dismissed an appeal by an OCI cardholder seeking admission to a medical course in the general category.

The petitioner medical student had approached the HC bench comprising Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal raising the legal question of whether an OCI can be admitted in the general category. 

Having a British Passport, the concerned petitioner wanted to get admitted to the MBBS course back in the year 2019. However, he was denied admission by the admissions committee for professional undergraduate medical education courses.

Consequently, the matter went to be considered by the High Court and based on the Court's direction, the petitioner student applied for MBBS admission under the Non-Resident Indian (NRI) quota and was granted admission. Thereafter, the petitioner pursued the course and he is now to complete his studies.

Also Read: OCI candidates can get admission to only NRI quota seats after taking NEET: MHA

As per the latest media report by the Times of India, the petitioner student again approached the HC bench for admission to a medical course in the general category. It was contended by him that the government notification issued in 2017 treated OCI card holders on par with NRIs so far as matters of education are concerned.

Referring to this, the petitioner argued that OCI Cardholders were entitled to get admitted in the general category. However, the State Government objected to this argument.

It was submitted by the State that the rules were changed later and the State argued that an OCI or an NRI cannot be admitted in a government seat.

Taking note of these submissions, the HC bench rejected the plea as it observed that the State Government pays for the doctors who stay in India and there was no reason for the government to spend on doctors who are not Indian citizens and who are not going to work in the country.

The bench further noted that being a citizen of India is the primary condition for getting admitted to a government MBBS seat. Further, the bench held that an OCI, who is entitled to benefits as an NRI, cannot claim parity with Indian Nationals.

Medical Dialogues had reported back in 2021 that issuing a gazette notification, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had stated that the OCI Cardholders can secure admission to "only NRI (Non-Resident Indian) quota seats" in educational institutions based on all-India entrance tests such as National Eligibility cum Entrance Test.

As per the latest gazette notification, dated 04.03.2021, the OCI cardholders "appearing for the all India entrance tests such as National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, Joint Entrance Examination (Mains), Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced) or such other tests" would be "eligible for admission only against any Non-Resident Indian seat or any supernumerary seat". This way, the OCI cardholders won't be eligible for "admission against any seat reserved exclusively for Indian citizens."

However, the matter came to be challenged before the Supreme Court and issuing an interim relief to the OCI Candidates, the top court bench had allowed them to participate in the general category of NEET Counselling for the academic year of 2021-2022.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that the Central Government rule of barring the Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) cardholders to apply for general category medical seats will be applied prospectively from the date on which the rule was implemented.

The top court bench of Justices A.S Bopanna and C.T Ravikumar held that the rule "shall apply prospectively only to persons who are born in a foreign country subsequent to 04.03.2021 i.e. the date of the notification and who seek for a registration as OCI cardholder from that date since at that juncture the parents would have a choice to either seek for citizenship by descent or to continue as a foreigner in the background of the subsisting policy of the Sovereign State."

Also Read: NEET: Supreme Court declares Centre's order of barring OCI candidates from General seats to be applied prospectively