AHMEDABAD: Two Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) have approached the
Gujarat high court to obtain domicile certificates for getting admission in the MBBS course. US-born Arushi Sevak and UK-born Bhavan Naik are facing a problem in getting admission in the state’s quota after the state government made
domicile certificate mandatory for such admissions from the current academic year.
Both the students, though born in foreign lands and holding the citizenship of respective countries, have been brought up in India. Arushi has been in India since 2004, and Bhavan has been here since 2006. Their parents have settled here and the children studied in Gujarat.
The students approached the high court in the last week of June requesting the court to direct the state government to allow them to take admission in the general category. The state government objected to their petition on the grounds that since they did not have domicile certificates being foreign citizens, they cannot get admission in the state’s quota.
The state government told the HC that these two students can get admission only in the NRI quota. A decision in this regard was taken by the state government on July 4. The students’ advocate, Rahul Sharma, argued before the court that the state government cannot take such a decision after the admission process has already begun. Moreover, there is no rule prohibiting OCIs from taking admission in the state’s quota.
As the issue of mandatory domicile certificate cropped up, the students requested the authorities to issue such certificates. Upon denial, they filed another petition in the high court on July 26 and contended that their citizenship does not have anything to do with their domicile of origin being Gujarat. They have been living in Gujarat for over a decade with their families and hence they should be treated as being domiciled in Gujarat.
The HC issued a notice to the state government on Friday, and sought its reply on this matter by August 8.
Gujarat high court (File Photo)
