MBBS/BDS Admissions - Overseas Citizens To Be Treated On Par With NRI , Eligible For All Categories Except Govt. Quota : Karnataka HC [Read Judgment]

The Karnataka High Court has held that Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) cardholders, who are NEET UG 2017 qualified, shall be entitled to be treated on par with Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in the matter of admission to first year MBBS/BDS course for the academic year 2017-18. The High Court also held that they can be considered for all categories except Government quota.

A division bench comprising Justice HG Ramesh and Justice KS Mudagal was considering pleas of non-citizen aspirants to MBBS/BDS course who contended that they are eligible to be considered for admission to first year MBBS/BDS course in Karnataka for the academic year 2017-18 under various categories of seats, including that of government seats.

Referring to notifications issued by the Central Government in this regard, the court observed that persons registered as OCI cardholders under Section 7A of the Citizenship Act, were treated on par with NRIs in respect of facilities extended to NRIs in the educational field, and further, they are also entitled to appear for the All-India Pre-Medical Test or such other tests to become eligible for admission to educational courses.

Can’t apply for Government Seats

The Court held that eligibility criteria to apply to a course and eligibility criteria to apply under different categories of seats to a course are two different things. The criteria for both could be the same or different. In the present case, all candidates who are NEET (UG) 2017 qualified are eligible to apply for first year MBBS/BDS course.

Under which categories of seats, they are eligible to apply, depends on their fulfilling the eligibility criteria laid down under relevant Acts and/or Rules governing admission to the various categories of seats. Therefore, if the relevant Acts and/or Rules governing admission to I year medical/dental course in Karnataka make Overseas Citizens of India cardholders eligible for admission under various categories of seats, they shall be entitled to be considered for admission under those categories. However, we state that they are not eligible to be considered under the Non-Resident Indian quota as they are not Non-Resident Indians, though they are entitled to be considered on par with Non-Resident Indians. They are also not eligible to be considered under the category of government seats in view of the bar under Rule 5 of the Rules for foreign citizens to apply for government seats.

The Court thus held that that Overseas Citizens of India cardholders who are NEET UG 2017 qualified shall be entitled to be treated on par with Non-Resident Indians in the matter of admission to 1st year MBBS/BDS course for the academic year 2017-18. Further, if they are eligible for admission under various categories of seats as per the relevant Acts and/or Rules governing admission to first year medical/dental course in Karnataka for the academic year 2017-18, they shall be considered for admission under all such categories of seats.

Recently, an NRI student had petitioned the Kerala High Court on finding that only seats in NRI quota in deemed universities were made available to him for exercising choices in the centralised medical counseling held for deemed universities, regardless of his merit. The plea is being considered by the Kerala High Court and it has directed Director General of Health Services and MCC to get instructions on the matter.