Discrimination Against The OCI students

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.