Delhi High Court ruled that OCI cards cannot be cancelled without giving the person a fair hearing. The Court reminded the government to follow due process and respect legal rights of OCI holders.
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NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court clearly said that the government cannot cancel someone’s Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card without first giving that person a proper chance to speak and explain their side.
This decision came from Justice Sachin Datta, who said that the law—Section 7D of the Citizenship Act, 1955—clearly requires the government to give a “reasonable opportunity of being heard” to the person before taking away their OCI status.
The Court explained what this means by saying:
“The expression reasonable opportunity of being heard has been interpreted by the Supreme Court in a catena of cases. It is now well settled that the same subsumes an effective opportunity to meet the relevant allegations. Necessarily, the same also takes within its sweep the entitlement to being informed about the grounds for taking the proposed action.”
This means the person should know exactly why action is being taken against them, and they should be given a real chance to reply to those reasons.
In this case, the government tried to argue that under another law—Section 3 of the Foreigners Act—they could blacklist someone without even telling them why, and this blacklisting would affect all visas, including the OCI card, which is a special lifelong visa given to certain foreign citizens with Indian roots or connections.
But the Court strongly disagreed with this view. Justice Datta said the government’s argument was not correct because it went against an earlier decision by the same Court in the case Khalid Jahangir Qazi through his power of Attorney Holder Ms. Farida Siddiqi v. Union of India through Secretary and Others.
Justice Datta noted:
“This Court reaffirmed (in Khalid Jahangir) that while Section 3 of the Foreigners Act, 1946, does not expressly provide for a hearing, the procedural safeguards under Section 7-D of the Citizenship Act must be harmoniously read into cases involving OCI cardholders, particularly when blacklisting them effectively negates their rights under the Citizenship Act. The Court cautioned against using the Foreigners Act to bypass the procedural safeguards embedded in the OCI framework.”
This means that even if the Foreigners Act does not clearly say a hearing must be given, when it comes to cancelling an OCI card, the government must still follow the Citizenship Act rules and give the person a fair chance.
This judgment came while the Court was listening to the case of John Robert Roughton III, a citizen of the United States who is married to an Indian woman. His OCI card was cancelled by the Indian government, and he was deported from Delhi’s international airport. The reason given was that he was allegedly involved in missionary activities.
After he was sent back, Roughton and his family tried to contact government officials and sent several representations, but they did not get any reply. So, Roughton approached the Delhi High Court for justice.
After hearing his case, the Court ordered the government to issue a show-cause notice to Roughton—this means the government must tell him the exact reason for blacklisting him—and then listen to his side before making a final decision. The Court also said the government should pass a speaking order, which means a clear and reasoned decision based on facts and law.
The legal team representing Roughton included Dr. Amit George, Dhiraj Abraham Philip, Febin Mathew Varghese, Ibansara Syiemlieh, Achalika Ahuja, and Naveen Richard. The government was represented by Central Government Standing Counsel Nidhi Raman along with advocates Zubin Singh and Arnav Mittal.
It is important to note that this is not the first time the Delhi High Court has ruled in favour of OCI cardholders. Recently, the same Court had also cancelled the government’s decision to take away the OCI card of Professor Ashok Swain, an academic based in Sweden.
This decision once again makes it clear that the government must follow proper legal procedures before taking away the rights of any Overseas Citizen of India. The judgment strengthens the protection for OCI holders and reminds the authorities that they cannot bypass the law.
CASE TITLE:
John Robert Roughton III v Union of India & Ors
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