Karnataka HC upholds Centre’s notification limiting OCI students’ right to seek admission in professional courses only through NRI quota

However, court allows petitioner-students to stake claim to general merit government quota seats for academic year 2021-22

The High Court of Karnataka has upheld the legality of the March 4, 2021 notification issued by the Central Government under the Citizenship Act restricting admission of Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) students to professional courses only under the non-resident of India (NRI) quota.

However, the court allowed the petitioner-OCI students to stake claim for admission to engineering and other professional courses in Karnataka only for the academic year 2021-22 even under the general merit category of seats under government quota in the light of an interim order passed by the apex court, which had recently allowed OCI students to seek admission to medical and dental courses even under general merit category only for the academic year 2021-22.

Justice Krishna S. Dixit delivered the verdict while rejecting the challenge by Alekhya Ponnekanti and 123 OCI student-petitioners to the March 4, 2021 notification.