Delhi high court explains foreign quota in universities

The Delhi high court (HC) has held that the 5% quota for foreigners in Indian universities was applicable only to students entering the country for varsity education, not at any other level.

The HC observation came on a plea by Pallavi Doshi, who was born to parents of Indian origin in the US and is a citizen of that country. Pallavi shifted to India when her father took up a job in the country.

After studying in various Indian schools since class III, she took the class XII ICSE board examination and applied for admission to Delhi University (DU). When DU denied her admission under the 5% foreigner quota, she moved court.

The counsel for DU submitted that the reservation of 5% for foreigners was not applicable to students who had qualified for admission to the university from an Indian board/university, including CBSE which is also located in a foreign country.

“The aim of the 5% reservation is to provide opportunities to foreign nationals who wish to study in a university in India. Such students are mostly from developing countries, have lower academic standards and are unable to compete with students in Indian boards/ universities, hence the reservation,” DU said in its affidavit, adding that the quota also helped maintain diplomatic relationships with other countries.

Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw agreed and dismissed Pallavi’s plea. He said, “The petitioner, having studied in India since class III and being of Indian origin, cannot be said to be a foreign student. The provision of reservation is for foreign students entering India for education at the university level, not for students such as the petitioner.”

“If such foreign students also were to be covered by the reservation, there was no need for providing that they are to seek admission on the basis of merit along with other students. The resolution clearly provides that foreign students falling in the reserved category are to be distributed by the university in colleges on pro-rata basis.

On the contrary, foreign students stationed in India and qualifying from Indian boards were to seek admission in individual colleges, as is the norm for general category candidates,” the court said.