The Punjab government has been reprimanded for giving reservation to distant relatives of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in admission to medical colleges and termed it as fraud. The Supreme Court said in clear words that this is fraud and it has to be stopped. There is an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab and Bhagwant Mann is the Chief Minister. After the High Court rejected the petition to increase the NRI quota in medical colleges, the Mann government had approached the Supreme Court. Now the Supreme Court has also rejected the petition of the Punjab government challenging the decision of the High Court. The apex court insisted that distant relatives of NRIs cannot be given the benefit of reservation in admission. The Supreme Court clearly said, 'This fraud must stop.' This decision has come at a time when the Karnataka government is insisting on introducing 15 per cent NRI quota in government medical colleges from the 2025-26 academic year.
The High Court had quashed the notification
Earlier this month, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had struck down the Punjab government's notification that amended the conditions for admission to medical colleges across the state through the NRI quota. A bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Anil Khetrapal ruled that the state's August 20 notification, which widened the definition of NRI candidates to include even distant relatives, was “grossly unreasonable”.
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Attempt to rig under the guise of NRI quota!
The court said the NRI quota was originally meant to help genuine NRIs and their children to pursue education in India. However, the government's move to include relatives such as uncles, aunts, grandparents and cousins in the NRI category undermined the basic purpose of the policy. “Broadening the definition opens the door to potential abuse, whereby persons outside the intended purpose of the policy may take advantage of these seats, potentially bypassing more deserving candidates,” the court said. The court had stayed the notification on August 28 after receiving a petition from Geeta Verma and other candidates.
Attempts to deprive deserving students of their rights
He argued that the prospectus for medical admissions was issued on August 9, but the government changed the admission criteria by a notification dated August 20 which is not acceptable. The court criticised the ambiguity of the new provision, which allows distant relatives to qualify as guardians merely by claiming that they have taken care of a student. It underlined that this has opened avenues for manipulation, allowing individuals to claim to be guardians for the sole purpose of obtaining admission under the NRI quota. The bench argued that this undermines the merit-based admission process, causing undue disadvantage to more academically qualified students.
What will happen to the preparations of the Karnataka government?
Meanwhile, in June, Karnataka Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil wrote to the National Medical Commission (NMC) seeking approval to create 508 additional MBBS seats in 22 government medical colleges for NRI students. Patil cited University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines and the National Education Policy 2020, which encourage admission of international students in Indian institutions, as justification for the proposal.
Greed of Karnataka Government
Currently, Karnataka allows NRI admissions only in private medical colleges, where students pay fees ranging from ₹1 crore to ₹2.5 crore. In contrast, states such as Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab charge between USD 75,000 and USD 100,000 (roughly Rs. 63 lakhs to Rs. 1 crore) for NRI seats in government medical colleges. Patil believes that implementing the quota in Karnataka will generate huge revenue for the government, improving facilities and quality of education in medical colleges, which face financial challenges despite government funding.
Patil has proposed an annual fee of Rs 25 lakh for NRI students. He estimates that this could generate a revenue of Rs 127 crore in the first year alone. He expressed confidence that the Centre will approve the proposal, allowing the state to implement the NRI quota in government medical colleges by the 2025-26 academic year.
