Aishwarya Rathore-
Published On: September 30, 2021 at 15:45 IST
The Supreme Court permitted Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) candidates to participate in the NEET-UG 2021 counselling in the General Category.
A Bench of Justices Abdul Nazeer and Krishna Murari stated, “The Petitioners are entitled to be considered eligible for all the Medical seats which the OCIs were eligible for the current academic year 2021-2022.”
The Court further said, “National Testing Agency is directed to declare the result of the examination taken by the petitioners (NEET-UG 2021) and the eligible petitioners are permitted to appear for the counselling in the General Category.”
The Court further urged that the current Order is confined to the Academic Year 2021-2022.
Justice Abdul Nazeer remarked, “They are all Indian origin and not outsiders. They don’t have the money like NRIs. Give them some time. Legal aspects apart, there is a challenge to the provision itself, which we’ll consider at a later stage.”
The Bench was hearing a Petition contesting a Notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on March 4, 2021.
The Notification instructed OCI candidates to be treated in the same manner as Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) for the purpose of NEET.
Accordingly the successful OCI candidates were required to pay the higher fee paid by NRIs for Medical seats in India.
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