Delhi HC sets aside government order cancelling academician Ashok Swain’s OCI status

The Delhi High Court on Friday set aside an order of the Union government cancelling the Overseas Citizen of India card of Sweden-based professor of Indian origin Ashok Swain, Live Law reported.

Justice Sachin Dutta, however, allowed the Centre to issue a fresh show cause notice to the professor.

Overseas Citizenship of India is an immigration status that allows foreigners of Indian origin to live and work in India indefinitely.

Swain, who holds Swedish citizenship, is an academic and professor of peace and conflict research at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Sweden’s Uppsala University.

The High Court had passed a similar judgement on July 10, 2023, and had then told the Centre to pass a detailed order explaining why it was using its powers under the Citizenship Act to cancel Swain’s Overseas Citizen of India card.

The Centre then passed another order cancelling the card, which Swain challenged again before the High Court.

The professor said in his petition that despite the High Court’s “specific and unequivocal directions” to pass a detailed order, the Embassy of India to Sweden and Latvia passed a fresh ruling in a “callous” manner. He claimed that the embassy only paraphrased legal provisions about cancelling Overseas Citizen of India cards, Live Law reported.

Swain said that he needed to visit India...

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