Boy holding UK passport allowed to attend Math Olympiad camp

Justice S Vaidyanathan granted the relief to the student after holding that, “In article 11 of the Constitution, Section 7(B)(1) of the Citizenship Act makes it very clear that the persons registered as overseas citizens under Section 7(A) would be entitled to parity with non-resident Indians in respect of all facilities available to them in economic, financial and educational fields.” 

“In this case, the petitioner is a student. There shall be a specific notification excluding educational fields by means of separate notification, modifying the notification dated April 11, 2005. Unless there is a notification, the communication issued by the Department of Atomic Energy cannot stand. Any circular or communication cannot override the Act and the said Act came into force pursuant to the Constitutional provisions,” the judge added. 

Raghuram (minor) represented by his mother Lakshmi Sundararajan had moved the HC submitting that he was born in London in 2003 and was holding an Indian passport.

Subsequently, in 2009, he acquired a British passport and thereafter obtained an Overseas Citizen of Indian (OCI) Card on May 19, 2010. But thereafter, he moved along with his parents to India and they have been residing here since 2010. 

Now, studying in India, he received a communication on March 1, 2018 from the National Board of Higher Mathematics that he has been selected in the International Mathematical Olympiad-2018 as an INMO-2018 awardee. 

The communication further stated that he may attend a four-week camp scheduled to be held from April 18 to May 05. 

Based on the performance through various tests, a team of six members will be chosen to represent India in in IMO 2018. But the impugned communication had a condition that the student must hold an Indian Passport. 

Hence, when the petitioner’s mother sent a communication to the respondents stating about the British Passport and OCI card, the Homi Bhaba Centre for Science Education (HBCSE) sent a communication that the petitioner cannot attend the camp since the Government policy does not allow students to represent India, without holding an Indian Passport, despite being an Indian citizen. 

Based on this, the plea was moved challenging the communication dated March 1, 2018 restricting IMO selection to Indian Passport holders and subsequently direct the respondent to reinstate the petitioner’s name in the list of selectees for the training camp for participation at the International Mathematics Olympiad.