The High Court of Karnataka has directed the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) to allow the 45 students holding Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) cards to take up Common Entrance Test (CET) 2021.
Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum passed the order in a batch of petitions filed seeking directions to quash the notifications issued by the Union government as well as KEA, inviting applications for CET-2021.
The Union government’s notification dated March 4, 2021, denied the right to the OCI cardholders to be considered as Indian citizens. They have been made eligible only for NRI seats and also not eligible for admission against any seat reserved exclusively for Indian citizens.
The petitioners contend that since they are denied the right to register for CET-2021, they will be denied the opportunity to participate in the counselling process. The advocates submitted that the petitioners ought to be treated on a different footing as they have domiciled in India and pursued their schooling for more than seven years.
They also contended that CET covers not only the government seats but also institutional seats, filled by private unaided educational institutions through CET.
The advocate also said that as board examinations were not held on account of the pandemic, it would be crucial to the students intending to pursue technical courses by participating in CET.
“In this background, I am of the view that if the petitioners are not registered with the Karnataka Examinations Authority, they would be put to irreparable loss and it may even take away all their future prospects in their career,” the court said. The KIA has been directed to register the students for CET-2021 as per the notification dated June 14, 2021.