NEET-PG : Supreme Court Permits OCI Candidate To Attend Counselling In General Category

Observing that the interim relief was limited to academic year 2021-2022 only, the bench of Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Krishna Murari in their order said,

"Issue notice. In the meantime, the petitioner is permitted to appear in the counselling in the General Category at par with Indian Citizens for the purpose of NEET PG Counselling and admission for 2021-2022. It is made clear that the aforesaid interim relief is limited to the academic year 2021-2022 only. Tag with Writ Petition (Civil) No 1397 of 2020 and batch."

It is pertinent to mention that the Top Court on September 30, 2021 had passed an interim order allowing Overseas Citizens of India(OCI) candidates to participate for the NEET-UG counselling in the general category for the year 2021-22.

The Top Court also issued notice in the writ petition which further challenged clause 4(ii) of the notification dated March 4, 2021 issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs ("impugned clause"). The impugned clause treated Overseas Citizens of India ("OCI's") at par with Non-Resident Indians ("NRI's") with regards to All India Entrance Tests such as NEET, JEE (Mains), JEE (Advanced) or such other tests for the purpose of admissions.

The bench also tagged the petition which had also sought for quashing clause 4.1 of NEET PG Information Bulletin and Counselling Scheme 2021 with the main writ petition (Dr Radhika Thappeta v. Union of India WP (C) 1307 of 2020 ) pending before the Top Court.

The petitioner (Dr Rajitha Savya Reddy) was represented by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan briefed by Dubey Law Associates. The petition was filed through Advocate on Record Charu Mathur.

It was argued that the impugned clause was ultra vires of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India in so far as it failed to accord parity to Indian OCI's with resident Indian citizens in all matters of entry and admission to professional colleges in India (including NEET-PG) from 2021-2022 onwards.

Averment that the Ministry of Home Affairs without providing any sufficient reasoning arbitrarily decided to implement the Impugned Clause from the current academic year, when the information regarding the same was not provided at the time of registration for NEET-PG 2021 examination was also made in the petition.

"With the impugned clause, OCIs are forcibly put at par with NRIs and made eligible for admission only against NRI seats or any supernumerary (i.e., extra) seat. This puts resident OCI students such as the Petitioners at a grave disadvantage. The petitioner has undergone many years of her schooling in India. She has also obtained her MBBS degree from India. However, it's appalling to note that the Impugned clause takes away the valuable right of the Petitioner to be treated with parity with the Indian citizens and is forced to compete for a very small number of seats in the NRI quota. By way of the Impugned Notice she will also be subjected to exorbitant admission fees that accompany the NRI quota seats, which will put her and her family under significant financial duress," petition stated.

The petitioner had further averred that the notification dated March 4, 2021 was a complete reversal of an earlier notification by the Ministry of Home Affairs dated January 5, 2009 ("2009 notification") which placed OCI's on par with Indian citizens in matter of admissions.

In this regards it was also argued in the petition that, "Therefore, the 2009 Notification specified certain rights which the person belonging from the OCI category under Section 7 A of the Citizenship Act, 1955 shall be entitled to including the right of the OCI candidate in appearing for tests to make them eligible for admission in pursuance of provisions framed thereunder. Thus, OCIs were explicitly excluded from being put on parity with NRIs in appearing for professional entrance exams. The impugned clause in the 04.03.2021 notification, as reproduced earlier, completely reverses this parity granted and puts OCIs in the same category as NRIs for the purpose of admissions to education, when the two have consistently been treated as distinct."

It was also contended that the impugned clause was also an attempt to override the judgment dated December 9, 2020 passed by the Division Bench of the Hon'ble High Court of Karnataka which held that the 2009 notification could only be interpreted to allow OCIs admission at par with Indian Citizens.

"A challenge to the judgment of the Division Bench was moved before this Hon'ble Court by way of a Special Leave Petition filed by the State of Karnataka in State of Karnataka v. Pranav Bajpe and Ors. bearing SLP (C) No. 2904/2021. In view of the 04.03.2021 notification, however, SLP (C) No. 2904/2021 was withdrawn by the State of Karnataka and the judgment of the Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court has in that regard attained finality," petition stated further in this regard.

Case Title: Dr Rajitha Savya Reddy v Union of India and Others| WP(C) No 1186/2021

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