Widening of NRI quota: SC junks Punjab's plea against HC verdict, says fraud must end

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the Punjab government's appeal against a high court verdict quashing its decision to expand the definition of ‘NRI quota’ for admissions in undergraduate medical and dental courses in the state. "This fraud must come to an end now," the apex court said.

On September 10, the Punjab and Haryana High Court trashed the AAP-led state government's August 20 move extending the ambit of the NRI quota to include distant relatives "such as uncles, aunts, grandparents, and cousins" of NRIs for admissions under 15 percent quota for this group in admissions in medical colleges.

"This is nothing but a money spinning machine,” observed a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

"We will dismiss all the petitions. This NRI business is nothing but a fraud. We will put an end to all this.... now the so called precedents must give way to primacy of law," said the bench.

Terming the high court verdict "absolutely right", the court said, "Look at the deleterious consequences... the candidates who have three times higher marks will lose admission (in NEET-UG courses)." The top court said distant relatives of a ‘mama, tai, taya’, who are settled abroad, will get admissions ahead of meritorious candidates and this cannot be allowed.