Gujarat's HC partly cancels ordinance on eliminating NRI quota
What's the story
Gujarat's High Court today partly cancelled an ordinance that targeted the elimination of the NRI quota in the state's medical colleges. This proved to be a setback for the state's government, which had raised the ordinance for Gujarat's dental and medical colleges, with the objective of abolishing the 15 percent NRI quotas. The government claimed that the seats were not fully utilized.
Quote
Gujarat HC sees no reason to hamper genuine NRI applications
"There is no reason to remove NRI quota, and hence the ordinance is set aside to the extent of removing genuine NRIs from the quota system. This, however, won't apply to NRI dependents. Thus the writ application is partly allowed," the court said.
Ordinance eliminating NRI quota
How would the ordinance have helped?
The ordinance would have helped to reduce the fees, scaling it down from the NRI quota to the General quota, resulting in fees lowering by a third. The government had signed the ordinance stating that instead of helping students from Gujarat get admission, it was enabling admission to students from other states. It would convert the NRI quota to management quota medical seats.
Ordinance challenged
Who had challenged the ordinance?
The elimination of the NRI quota came about earlier this year when the state government issued the Gujarat Professional Medical Educational Colleges or Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fees) (Amendment) Ordinance of 2016. It soon resulted in five petitioners, which included a group of self-financed dental colleges, challenge the ordinance. The other four petitioners were NRI applicants.
Cancellation of ordinance
Why did the High Court partly quash the ordinance?
Gujarat's High Court proceeded to abolish the ordinance established by the state government, and the decision was taken by a judiciary bench consisting of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi. They said that the government's decision to cancel the quota for NRI's would be unconstitutional. The bench also stated that it would push away genuine NRIs who applied for admissions.
Quote
NRI dependents and sponsors excluded from NRI quota
"Limited reservation not exceeding 15 per cent may be given to the NRIs, but only "genuine" and not "dependents or sponsors" of NRIs be given this reservation," according to Gujarat's High Court.