OCI cardholders do not have equal admission rights as Indian citizens in medical college quotas, and regulations must be strictly followed.

JUDGMENT :

Anil Kshetarpal, J.

1. Brief facts of the case:

1.1 The petitioner herein aspires for admission under the category of 'Wards of Gallantry Award recipients among police officials' in the MBBS course. He has already been allocated a Non-Resident Indian (in short 'NRI') seat in his first preferred college. Through this writ petition, the petitioner is attempting to avoid payment of the fee for the NRI seat.

1.2 The substantive prayers made by the petitioner read as under:-

"Issue a Writ in the nature of Certiorari, quashing the decision/action of the respondents in not considering the petitioner against seats meant for Indian citizens in State Quota seats in MBBS admissions 2024, including seats meant for wards of Punjab Gallantry Award Winners by treating the petitioner exclusively against NRI quota seats; and quashing clause 17(vi) of the Punjab notification dated 9/8/24 contained in the BFU prospectus;

(iii) Issue a Writ in the nature of Mandamus directing the Respondents to consider the petitioner and include him in the admission process for M.B.B.S. Sessions 2024 a OCI card holder (period to 2021) in terms of the Judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court against seat for State Quota seats meant for India Citizens, including those reserved for wards of Punjab Gallantry Award medallists; and also in the NRI Category."

1.3 In order to comprehend the issues involved in the present case, the relevant facts in brief are required to be noticed.

1.4 After the National Testing Agency (NTA) conducted NEET (UG) 2024, the State of Punjab authorized Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot (in short 'BFUHS') as the nodal agency to conduct counselling for admission to the 85% State quota. On 09.08.2024, the prospectus was issued with the following schedule for admission:-

SCHEDULE FOR ADMISSION UNDER NEET UG-2024 IMPORTANT DATES

1.5 The petitioner submitted a physical application form to claim admission under the NRI quota. He did not claim admission under any other category, including the wards of Gallantry Award recipients among Police Personnel, for which the last date for submitting online application form was 15.08.2024. He participated in online counselling as a candidate belonging to the NRI category. He filed CWP-21865-2024, claiming admission under open category, which was dismissed on 10.09.2024. He was born on 24.02.2006 in California, USA, and he completed his schooling from Sacred Heart Convent School, Ludhiana. He appeared as an Overseas Citizen of India (in short 'OCI') in NEET (UG) 2024 and secured an All India Rank of 2,86,066 with 448 marks. As per the schedule, the first round of counselling for State quota seats falling under the open category, except for the NRI quota, was held in the month of August. For the second round of counselling, the State of Punjab issued a fresh admission notice on 06/07.09.2024, operative part whereof, reads as under:-

1.6 The schedule for the second round of counselling reads as under:-

1.7 The petitioner filed the present writ petition on 09.09.2024, which came up for preliminary hearing on 12.09.2024. A reply on behalf of respondent