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(d) Admittedly OCI Cardholders possess the Passports issued by their countries; they have obtained OCI Registration Certificates in which their Foreign Nationality is specifically mentioned; nowhere therein, it is stated that they are the Indian citizens; it is pertinent to mention that the Single Judge while allowing the Writ Petitions vide judgment dated 10.4.2019 specifically recorded a finding at several paragraphs therein that the OCI Cardholders are not Indian citizens; Mr.Dhyan Chinnappa, learned Addl. Advocate General appearing for the respondent State is more than justified in contending that the DB had framed four principal "POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION" at para 46 of its judgment and none of them related to status of OCI Cardholders as citizens; in fact, the articulate premise of the judgment of the Single Judge and the inarticulate premise of the Division Bench judgment are that the OCI Cardholders are not the Indian citizens; it is very logical that the status of OCI Cardholders and that of the Indian citizens are mutually exclusive, as rightly contended by the learned ASG Mr.Nargund; therefore, some observations in the DB judgment as to the OCI Cardholders arguably being the Indian citizens do not dilute the specific finding of the Single Judge that they are not; had the DB framed a specific question as to citizenship status of the OCI Cardholders, it would have been a different matter.

(b) Mr.M.B.Nargund is justified in submitting that the impugned part of the 2021 Notification is consciously incorporated with intent to protect the interest of the domiciling natives who lack the competitive edge qua the OCI Cardholders and the NRIs; both these classes i.e., OCI & NRI who are now equated to each other obviously have greater exposure to the outer world, by virtue of birth & brought up, in the case of former and by virtue of the residing in the case of latter; the classification between the natives on the one hand and the OCIs & the NRIs on the other cannot be faltered by invoking equality clause; Article 14 of our Constitution sanctions 'protective discrimination'; it hardly needs to be stated that the foreigners and the native citizens apparently belong to two different classes and therefore, treating them alike would fall foul of the principle of equality vide E.P.ROYAPPA Vs. STATE OF TAMIL NADU, AIR 1974 SC 555; it is pertinent to note that no NRIs have come forward to lay a challenge to their being treated differently from domiciling citizens and this is understandable inasmuch as both they constitute different categories; they have also not laid a challenge to the impugned Notification grieving that the OCI Cardholders are approximated to them and thereby, their claim to admission in the NRI quota exclusively earmarked for them, is rendered less prospected; that being the position, no case of discrimination is made out by the OCI Cardholders for invoking Article 14.

6. As to whether Citizenship and Domicile are central to the impugned notification:

There is one common characteristic discernible from the three Notifications of 2005,2009 & 2021: all OCI Cardholders are foreigners but not all foreigners are OCI Cardholders; these Notifications treat the OCI Cardholders on par with the NRIs; the latter are citizens whereas the former are not; these Notifications in a sense restrict the educational rights of the NRIs even when they are citizens qua the domiciling citizens, is obvious; they confer on par with NRIs the educational rights on the OCI cardholders though they are not citizens; what emerges from a deeper examination of this is that so far as the claim to governmental seats & non-supernumerary seats is concerned, both the citizenship and domicile are not treated as central to the policy criterian, although they have some 'non-policy significance'; in other words, going by the text & context and their policy content, these notifications are 'citizenship-neutral'; similarly they are 'domicile-neutral' too; of course this is so far as the claim for admission to NRI & supernumerary seats is concerned; thus even if the OCI Cardholders assumedly happen to be the citizens of India and have domiciled in the State of Karnataka, the factor pales into insignificance; the vehement contention of Mr. Nitin Ramesh that there is difference between the OCI Cardholders simpliciter and OCI Cardholders domiciled in the State of Karnataka, is true; however that difference does not advance the case of petitioners.

(b) As to contention that Parliament exclusively has power to restrict the rights of OCI Cardholders:

(i) Petitioners' counsel Mr.Ajoy Kumar Patil, passionately argues that the rights progressively granted by the Government to the OCI Cardholders u/s 7B(1) of 1955 Act can be meddled with only by the Parliament in its plenary power of law making and therefore, the delegate could not have issued the impugned Notification bruising such rights;

this is bit difficult to countenance; this provision vests power in the Central Govt. to confer rights & facilities on the OCI Cardholders; the power to grant concomitantly includes the power to rescind/restrict what is so granted vide section 21 of the General Clauses Act, 1897; when the grant is made by the delegate in exercise of quasi-legislative power, it can be taken away by him in the exercise of very same power and in the same way, in the absence of a contra indication in the parent Act; if the Parliament intended otherwise, it would have texted inter alia the provisions of section 7B in a different form; the Parliament in its wisdom has granted a large power to the Executive, assumedly as of necessity; there is nothing in the Act to indicate that once the Central Govt. in exercise of said power grants certain rights to the OCI Cardholders, it is denuded of the power to undo the grant, forever.