Supreme Court issues notice against petition by overseas citizen seeking parity in fees charged at the IITs

The Supreme Court on Tuesday, January 11, issued notice in an interlocutory application filed by an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) candidate seeking parity with Indian citizens with regards to the fees charged by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). A bench comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Krishna Murari issued a notice to the Centre on a plea that stated that IIT Madras was asking the petitioner to pay fees as charged for foreign nationals. 

Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta, sought time to file a reply for the same and said, "This is something that is a wider issue. We don't want our Indian students to be unfairly treated." To this Justice Nazeer said, "SG has merits. You want to have it both ways? You want to study here and then fly there? Why don't you opt for Indian citizenship and serve this country?" 

The petition stated that the fees required to be paid by foreign nationals is exorbitantly high as NRIs and foreign nationals earn in foreign currency but the OCIs living and working in India do not earn in foreign currency. It was further contended that placing OCIs on par with NRIs and foreign nationals without any prior notice was arbitrary and caused unfair prejudice