Exit permit to US citizen only after she pays full MBBS course fee as per NRI quota: Karnataka HC
Bengaluru, Mar 20: A US citizen who approached the High Court of Karnataka seeking a direction to the Union Government and Bureau of Immigration to issue her an exit permit has been ordered to pay the full fee of her MBBS course. Coming to India on a tourist visa as a child, she had completed her education throughout claiming to be an Indian citizen. It was only when she sought an exit permit from India that it came to light that she was an US citizen on an unauthorised stay in India.
''The petitioner has shamelessly resorted to falsehood and achieved her goals by unethical means as indicated hereinabove. Curious enough, the petitioner is not even wanting to pursue her career in this country, having secured benefits throughout her career contending that she is an Indian,'' Justice M Nagaprasanna said in his judgment recently. The Court allowed the issuance of an exit permit to her subject to her paying the course fee applicable to a NRI/Overseas citizen of India. It also directed the authorities not to subject her to legal proceedings for unauthorised stay considering the peculiar facts of the case.
The Court said, ''But she is a student, who would not be aware of the consequence of law or consequences of the aforesaid breach of falsehood. Therefore, this Court would direct the respondents – the Union of India and the Bureau of Immigration, to hold their coercive arm of law to be stretched upon the petitioner in the peculiar facts of this case, subject to the condition that the petitioner would pay all the fees, for all the five years of the MBBS course at the rate of the fee that would be charged to NRI/Overseas citizen of India treating the petitioner’s admission to be in that category and the fee to be paid to the State, taking a lenient view of the matter.'' The 24-year-old was born in Nashville, Tennessee, USA in 1997. She had a US passport and based on it came to India as a child in 2003 on a tourist visa.
Her visa expired in December 2003 but she continued to stay in India without renewing it. Her US passport too expired in 2004.
She completed her schooling and PU in India. She wrote the Common Entrance Test in 2015 and was allotted a medical seat in Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences under the quota reserved for candidates sponsored by the Government. She completed the course.
After becoming a major, she did not renounce her citizenship of USA but applied for a fresh passport, which was granted in 2021. She filed an application before the Bureau of Immigration for exit permit which was refused.
Her stay in India from December 2003 onwards was counted as illegal stay. She then approached the High Court against the Union Government and the Bureau of Immigration.
The Court rejected her contention that she was an Indian citizen as she had not renounced her citizenship of USA within six months of attaining full age.
The Court said that it was reprehensible that she projected herself to be an Indian and completed her studies and obtained a MBBS seat on a Government quota ''thus takes away the seat of a genuine Indian who would have secured the seat under the Government quota.''
Though the Court said that the authorities ''would be well within the four corners of law to initiate any proceedings against the petitioner,'' considering the peculiar facts of the case, it allowed the exit permit for her to go back to the US but after paying the MBBS fee.
''Therefore, the exit permit is directed to be issued subject to the aforesaid condition, all, again, owing to the peculiar facts of the case and the conduct of the petitioner misrepresenting herself to be an Indian, snatching away the career of an Indian. In the aforesaid circumstances, if the petitioner is left off the hook without any condition, it would be putting a premium on the misrepresentation that she has made throughout calling herself to be an 'Indian Citizen',” the High Court said.
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Wayanad landslides an instance of nature reacting to human apathy, greed: Kerala HC
Kochi (PTI): The landslides that hit Wayanad district in Kerala claiming over 200 lives was just another instance of nature reacting to human "apathy and greed", the High Court here has said.
The court said that the "warning signs" had appeared a long time ago but "we chose to ignore them in pursuit of a development agenda that would supposedly put our state on the high road to economic prosperity".
It said that the natural disasters in 2018 and 2019, the pandemic that persisted for nearly two years and the recent landslides "have shown us the error of our ways".
"If we do not mend our ways and take affirmative remedial action now, perhaps it will be too late," a bench of justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Syam Kumar V M said while hearing a plea initiated on its own by the court following the July 30 landslides that completely wiped away three villages in Wayanad with 119 people still unaccounted for.
The court suo motu initiated the PIL "to persuade the state government to introspect on its currently held notions for sustainable development in the state of Kerala and revisit its policy regarding the same", the bench said in its order of August 23.
The bench said the court will take stock of the state's existing policies in relation to exploitation of natural resources, preservation of the environment, forests and wildlife, prevention, management and mitigation of natural disasters and sustainable development goals.
"It was felt that an intervention by this court was required to gather information, and requisition assistance from institutions and agencies that can assist in the identification of ecologically sensitive areas in the state, and help the state in reformulating its policies in the areas mentioned above," it said.
The bench also outlined the stages by which it was going to achieve the goals for which the PIL was initiated.
It said it will proceed in three stages, with the first one being focused on gathering scientific data regarding the manner in which ecologically sensitive areas in the state can be identified, and thereafter proceed to identify and notify them district wise.
"We will also monitor the rescue, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in Wayanad district on a weekly basis," it said.
In stage two, data will be gathered with regard to the desirable composition of regulatory agencies and advisory boards that would enable such agencies and boards to function effectively towards achieving the objectives for which they have been constituted, it said.
"The data gathered will be placed before the state government for its consideration so that suitable amendments can be effected to existing statutes, rules or regulations.
"In stage three, we propose to collect data from the people residing in ecologically sensitive areas in the state, through the Local Self Government department of the state, so that the state can re-formulate its policies with regard to infrastructural development, tourism, exploitation of natural resources, and preservation of environment, forests and wildlife..." it said.
As a part of that, the state shall conduct the necessary environmental impact assessment studies and hold adequate public hearings to ascertain the views of persons or residents of the locality concerned, it added.
The bench has also directed the Centre and Kerala government to file affidavits clarifying whether in the wake of the natural disasters that have occurred in the state, they propose to increase the number of subject experts as mandated under the Disaster Management Act (DMA) 2005.
It also asked them to clarify whether the Advisory Committees as contemplated under the DMA have been constituted at the national, state and district levels and if so, the composition of the said panels as well as the details of the Disaster Management Plans prepared at the national, state and district levels in accordance with the DMA, together with details of the latest updates to the said plans.
In addition to these, the Centre and Kerala government also have to state in affidavit the details of the funds allocated for carrying out the activities and programmes set out in the respective Disaster Management Plans and details regarding the steps taken by the Central government to include a checklist of safety measures to be adopted in landslide prone areas in the Building Rules applicable in the state.
The court has given them three weeks to file their affidavits containing these details.
"We make it clear that in view of the expediency required in this matter, we expect all the respondents to strictly adhere to the time limits specified by this court for filing affidavits and other documents," it said.
