NRIs quota in professional & technical courses is not sacrosanct, according to the Supreme Court.

NRI candidates cannot claim the right to be admitted over the quota

Honourable Supreme Court has clarified the fact on Friday that private colleges and institutions that invite NRIs candidates for professional and technical courses have a radical discretion over quota or seat offerings. However, they need to provide a reasonable prior notice for it.

The court announced that NRI quota was not sacrosanct, which means that it was unchallengeable.  As the judgement passed, the candidates under this quota cannot declare their right to be admitted.

A Bench of Justices L. Nageshwara Rao and S. Ravindra Bhat said, “Private colleges and institutions, offering professional and technical course have adequate space to work in. They can decide on likelihood and extent of seat offerings to NRIs or management quotas.”

Changes in Seats

The 28-page long judgement came on the appeal over changes in the seat matrix by private medical and dental colleges in Rajasthan for post-graduation courses.  It was completely under the legal rule that the colleges could completely discard the NRI quota for 2020-21 academy year. The colleges had a reason to enclose the fact that the onset of pandemic would not fill the seats. Also, there are many non-resident candidates who have been considered for the management seats, but only on the merit-base.

This verdict has the base of the seven-judge Bench decision in P.A. Inamdar, which stated that 15% NRI quota was not compulsory but, only potential. It means that the quota was not mandatory to introduce for NRIs.

This decision was and still comes within the internal policy making domain of the private medical colleges, as they are the discretionary authority of the management of these colleges, as per Bhat (as written in the verdict).

Dubious over NRI quota

One of the Bench Justices said, the Supreme Court had consistently been dubious about the non-resident’s quota in medical courses. That was the reason of suggesting to keep quota or seats restricted to 15% only by the court.

The previous judgement quoted from the Constitution Bench verdict in the Inamdar case of 2005, which clearly stated that the term NRI for admission in the courses in India was itself a “misnomer”, which denotes an inaccurate designation or name to file a petition.

It stated that the student under this category were not NRIs, nor were the parents.  The reality was that the less meritorious students can get admission provided that they can afford to bring more currency to India.  The brought-in money by the NRI candidates enables educational institutions to improve and strengthen its level of education. Besides, this money can also enlarge its educational activities, according to the judgement.

The nutshell of the judgement refers that the colleges and private institutions do possess a right to offer or not the NRI quota to non-resident candidates in India. They can either invite them or don’t do so, it’s completely their discretionary right.