OCI students are not entitled to admission to professional courses under Hyderabad Karnataka region quota, says High Court

A Division Bench of the High Court of Karnataka, comprising Chief Justice N.V. Anjaria and Justice K.V. Aravind, delivered the verdict while disposing of a petition filed by 18-year-old OCI cardholder Meghana Kuruvalli, a citizen of the United Kingdom.
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The High Court of Karnataka has declared that Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) cardholder students are not eligible to be considered for admission to professional courses through the Hyderabad-Karnataka region reservation quota under Article 371J of the Constitution of India.

The OCI students are entitled to admission to professional courses such as medical and dental only under the general merit category in terms of the apex court’s verdict, the High Court has clarified.

“The category of beneficiaries under Article 371J and for that purpose the Karnataka Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission in Hyderabad-Karnataka Region) Order, 2013, are distinct and separate class when juxtaposed with the class of persons who have the status of OCI cardholders under Section 7A of the Citizenship Act, 1955,” the High Court has observed.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice N.V. Anjaria and Justice K.V. Aravind delivered the verdict while disposing of a petition filed by 18-year-old OCI cardholder Meghana Kuruvalli, a citizen of the United Kingdom (U.K.).

The beneficiaries under Article 371J and the OCI cardholders are distinct classes with distinct characteristics in facts and law, not comparable, nor liable to be grouped together for the purpose of admissions under the Hyderabad Karnataka or Kalyana Karnataka quota under Article 371J of the Constitution, the Bench said.

“The petitioner is a citizen of the United Kingdom. The petitioner who is a foreign national has climbed upward social mobility. The context of benefit accorded under Article 371J does not befit to be extended to such segment or class of candidates. Not only that they constitute a different class with different characteristics, they could therefore not be allowed to take away the benefits of reservation from those who are deserving,” the Bench observed.

The Bench said that the parity in terms of educational right given to the OCI cardholders, through the notification issued by the Central government and the apex court’s verdict, is in the limited sense, and this parity does not make the OCI cardholders in the same group to that of citizens of India.

Definition of ‘local person’

“The definition of ‘local person’ as per the Hyderabad Karnataka Order is only in the context of Article 371J of the Constitution. It would therefore not include the OCI cardholders, who are not citizens of India. The benefit of Article 371J and the reservation quota in that category has to go to citizens of India belonging to that region. A foreign national like the petitioner cannot have and will not have such a claim,” the Bench said.

The petitioner had claimed that she is entitled to a general merit category seat earmarked for Hyderabad Karnataka quota for admission to MBBS and BDS courses as she and her father had studied in Ballari district for certain years as per the norms required for consideration under the HK quota. The petitioner was an Indian citizen by birth as she was born in Secunderabad in 2006 and later acquired citizenship in the U.K. in 2012 and lived there till 2018 as her parents too had acquired British citizenship.