The Gujarat High Court partly quashed an Ordinance issued by the Gujarat Government that had abolished all the NRI quotas in the medical colleges of the State.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice VM Pancholi held the Government's decision on Tuesday to cancel quota for "genuine" NRIs seeking admission in colleges of the State was unconstitutional.
The court, however, upheld the State Government's decision to abolish quotas for "dependents" of NRIs. The Gujarat Government had earlier this year issued an Ordinance — The Gujarat Professional Medical Educational Colleges or Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fees) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016 — abolishing the entire 15 per cent quota for NRIs in medical colleges.
Through the Ordinance, the State Government abolished quota of 15 per cent offered to NRIs for admissions in the colleges offering medical, para-medical and dental courses. The Gujarat Government had also increased the management quota in these colleges from 10 per cent to 25 per cent.
"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," the court stated.
Five petitioners, including a consortium of self-financed dental colleges and four NRI admission seekers, had challenged the Constitutional validity of the Ordinance.