The Supreme Court asked on Tuesday why the children of Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) who live in India do not apply for Indian citizenship after giving up their foreign citizenship. This question was raised by the division bench of Justices AS Bopanna and Sudhanshu Dhulia while hearing a batch of petitions challenging the Centre's 2021 notification, which states that OCI students can only apply for NRI seats in NEET admittance.

Senior Advocate KV Vishwanathan, appearing for the petitioners, stated that he is representing students born to OCI parents and living in India. He claimed that OCIs cannot be compared to Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) because NRIs live abroad and earn in foreign currency. Many OCI families, however, remain in India.

"They have come back and their children have completed their studies till 12th here and suddenly a notification in 2021 says you will be on par with the NRIs and will not be able to apply for general seats or All India Quota even though they fulfill the domicile requirement", 

According to Vishwanathan, OCI was a concept introduced by the Government of India in 2005 to confer certain rights on persons of Indian origin who may have foreign citizenship, in order to encourage them to settle in India and provide services here. Under certain instances, children may have acquired foreign citizenship while their parents were working abroad, and they may have later returned to India. They may have grown up in India, but they were granted OCI status due to their foreign citizenship. As a result, the senior counsel contended, comparing them to NRIs, who practically live outside India, would be illogical.

Advocate Kanu Agarwal, representing the Union Government, requested an adjournment because the Solicitor General and Additional Solicitor General were scheduled to testify at another hearing. The Union's counsel added that the petitioners are attempting to compete for seats reserved for Indian citizens who have no other options, whereas OCI students can obtain citizenship rights abroad.

Case Title: Dr. Radhika Thapetta and others v. Union of India and others; Anushka Rengunthwar and others v. Union of India and others and Krithika K and others versus Union of India and others

Citation:  WP(c) No.1397/2020, WP(c) No..891/2021, WP(c) No. 1032/2021