Team Herald
PANJIM: A division bench of the High Court of Bombay at Goa, comprising Justice M S Karnik and Justice Valmiki Menezes, on Tuesday directed the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to decide within four weeks on a fresh application from Adv Aires Rodrigues for an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card.
In its order, the Court instructed Adv Rodrigues to submit a new online OCI application by January 30. It also directed the officer in charge at the Embassy of India in Lisbon to call Adv Rodrigues on February 5 at 11:30 am to complete all
the formalities.
The Court noted that the MHA had confirmed that there were no criminal proceedings pending against Adv Rodrigues in any court. Senior advocate A F Diniz, representing Adv Rodrigues, pointed out that the criminal proceedings concerning his alleged dual nationality were closed by the Panjim JMFC on March 25, 2021.
Additionally, the High Court had quashed the chargesheet in the case related to an alleged social media post on December 11 of the previous year. It was also highlighted that in a 2007 case regarding an alleged trespass into the Ribandar Church, Adv Rodrigues and 19 other residents of Ribandar were acquitted by the court on September 14, 2011.
On May 15, 2023, Adv Rodrigues obtained a Portuguese passport in Lisbon and, upon returning to Goa in the first week of June, immediately surrendered his Indian passport at the Goa Passport Office, as required by law.
After surrendering his Indian passport and obtaining a Surrender Certificate along with all the necessary documents, he applied for his OCI card. However, he was informed by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) in Mumbai that the new rule required six months of residence in Goa before applying for an OCI card.
After fulfilling the six-month residency requirement, Adv Rodrigues reapplied for his OCI card on January 25, 2024. He was given an appointment for document verification on March 4 at the FRRO in Mumbai, where he successfully completed the verification and paid the requisite processing fee of Rs 15,000. However, three months later, on June 6, he received a brief email from the FRRO in Mumbai stating that his OCI application had been cancelled.
Aggrieved by this, Adv Rodrigues filed a petition with the High Court on June 20, arguing that the FRRO's decision to cancel his OCI application was arbitrary, illegal, erroneous, and contrary to law. He contended that the FRRO's one-sentence decision, issued without any reasons, violated the principles of natural justice.