A Bench of Justices S. Abdul Nazeer and Justice Krishna Murari of the Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) candidates to appear in the NEET-UG 2021 counselling in the general category.
Strangely, the court equated the case of OCI candidates with Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The bench said that if the central government can bring non-citizen from neighbouring countries to India and grant them citizenship under the CAA, then these OCIs are very much Indians. The court said that India is known for its spirit of inclusiveness.
“Look what your CAA does. It makes even a non-citizen as citizen of this country,” the bench further told additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati.
During the argument, ASG Aishwarya Bhati said that OCIs have a lesser threshold to become Indian citizens. They need to stay in India for 12 months and they will be recognized as full citizen of India. She asked why petitioners are not doing so and why they don’t act at par with Indian citizens. The Additional Solicitor General contended that OCIs are treated as foreigners since they have pledged their allegiance to a foreign state. She further pointed that if OCIs are treated at par with the general category, it will deny opportunity to Indian aspirants who aspire to work as doctors in India. She also pointed out that there was a high chance these successful OCIs candidates will return to their countries with their degrees after completing medical studies in India.
The Ministry of Home Affairs on March 4 had issued a notification keeping OCI candidates at par with Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) for the purpose all-India entrance examinations such as National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and others. By this order, this was ensured that OCIs will compete with NRI for a limited number of seats and they will have to pay a fee at par with the NRI. This notification was challenged by some OICs.
It may be noted that the CAA and the legal battle fought by OCIs are two different things. CAA 2019 was passed by the Indian Parliament to grant citizenship to six marginalized minorities communities who have been facing prosecution owing to their religion. The act has amended the definition of an illegal immigrant for Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Christian, Jain and Buddhist immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who were forced to seek shelter in India due to their prosecutions on religious grounds. This Act fast tracks their citizenship to India from 12 years to 6 years.