The Supreme Court of India criticized the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Punjab government for expanding the eligibility criteria for the 15% NRI quota in state-run and private medical and dental colleges on Tuesday, September 24.
This expansion, aimed at including "wards" of NRIs, was described by the court as a "fraud on the education system" intended to generate revenue.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, along with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, condemned the government’s move, noting that it undermined merit-based admissions. The court raised concerns about the ease with which eligibility could be manipulated, as it only required an affidavit from someone residing abroad.
Criticism was directed at the last-minute changes made to the criteria, which occurred after the application deadline had passed. CJI Chandrachud stated, "This expanded meaning of NRI quota is nothing but a fraud on the medical education system."
The court dismissed the Punjab government’s appeal and ruled in favour of general-category students, highlighting the unfair advantage afforded to NRI candidates with lower marks. Senior advocate Abhimanyu Bhandari pointed out the inequity, noting that while a general category student scoring 630 out of 700 marks might be denied admission, an NRI ward with as low as 200 marks could secure a seat.
The justices also rejected Punjab's defense that its policy aligned with practices in other states, emphasizing the need to halt such exploitative practices in the name of NRI quotas.