Delhi High Court sets aside Centre’s rejection of Siddharth Varadarajan’s OCI plea

The Delhi High Court set aside the Centre’s decision rejecting The Wire founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan’s plea for conversion of his PIO status to OCI. The court directed authorities to reconsider the application and pass a reasoned order in accordance with the law

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday set aside the Centre’s decision rejecting The Wire founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan’s plea seeking conversion of his Person of Indian Origin (PIO) status to Overseas Citizen of India (OCI), saying the refusal lacked reasons.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav restored the American journalist’s application and asked the authorities to take a fresh decision on it in accordance with the law and pass a reasoned order.

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“The court, on perusal of the order, finds that the petitioner’s request for conversion of PIO to OCI has been denied. There are no reasons assigned in the communication as to why the application could not be decided favourably,” Justice Kaurav said.

“Unless the respondent assigns reasons, the appellate court may not be able to appreciate the matter. Reasons are the heart and soul of the order… The impugned communication is set aside. The petitioner’s application stands restored. Let the same be considered in accordance with law and an appropriate order be passed,” the court ordered.

The Central government counsel urged the court to grant time to take instructions, but the court asserted that the refusal could not be sustained.

“You will have to reconsider this. This order can’t be sustained. Pass a reasoned order,” the court orally remarked.

It clarified that the petitioner could take appropriate legal remedy in case of any subsequent grievance.

The court listed for hearing on Wednesday Varadarajan’s plea seeking permission to travel and asked the Central government counsel to take instructions on this aspect.

The journalist’s senior counsel submitted that he was a PIO card holder with roots in India. Although all such cards were automatically deemed OCI cards after 2015, his PIO card stopped being machine-readable and he had to apply for conversion, the counsel argued.

She said the Centre turned down the request to convert Varadarajan’s PIO card to OCI and sent the impugned communication to him on April 2.

“He is born to Indian parents. Wife is Indian. He has been in and out of the country since 1995. PIO card is valid until 2032 but it is not machine-readable,” the counsel submitted.