New Delhi, 12 May (H.S.): The Delhi High Court has set aside the Central Government’s order rejecting journalist Siddharth Varadarajan’s application for Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status. A bench of Justice Purushendra Kumar Kaurav held that the Centre’s decision was not in accordance with law. The Court will take up tomorrow, 13 May, Varadarajan’s plea for permission to travel abroad.

Varadarajan sought to convert his Person of Indian Origin (PIO) status into OCI. The PIO category no longer exists, having been subsumed entirely under the OCI scheme. The Central Government had on 2 April rejected his OCI application.

During the hearing, counsel for the Centre told the Court he wanted to seek fresh instructions. The Bench, however, observed that no fresh instructions were necessary, noting that the order did not follow the prescribed legal procedure and therefore must be quashed. Varadarajan holds U.S. citizenship and was also a PIO‑card holder. All PIO cards expired on 31 December 2025 and are no longer valid travel or residency documents for entry into India, as the PIO scheme has been merged with OCI.

Varadarajan said he had applied for an OCI card because, although his PIO card was valid till 2032, the PIO category itself has ceased to exist. The petition argued that the PIO card is deemed equivalent to OCI, but Varadarajan wanted a physical OCI card. The Centre, however, rejected his OCI application on 2 April, prompting the High Court challenge.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar