In an interim order, the Bombay High Court has permitted a student, who holds an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card, to appear for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) counselling for seeking admissions to Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) under the general category and not the one reserved for NRIs or foreign nationals.

A bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Madhav Jamdar passed the interim order while hearing a plea filed by the female student challenging a part of the notification issued on March 4 this year by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). As per the MHA notification, OCI cardholders can lay claim to only Non-Resident Indian (NRI) quota seats in educational institutions based on all-India entrance tests such as National Eligibility-cum- Entrance Test (NEET) and JEE, among others.