Says May 6 order clearly states MEA/MHA will grant OCI status to applicants as per April 4 circular
MARGAO
The Goans for Goa (GFG) has said that the NGO is not unduly worried about the reports of the MEA corrigendum on OCI status, saying the matter is already resolved in the High Court, with the May 6 High Court order clearly stating that the MEA/MHA will grant OCI status to applicants as per the guidelines set by the MEA circular dated April 4, 2024.
GFG convenor Kennedy Afonso reminded that the MEA circular of 04/04/2024 states that all revoked passport holders will be granted OCI status based on the revoked passport order.
“If there was a Corrigendum to the earlier circular of 04/04/2024, the advocate appearing for the MEA/MHA and the government should have brought this matter to the notice of the High Court on hearing held on 6 May, 2024, six days after the corrigendum was issued,” he said.
He added that the government lawyer had only showed the MEA circular of 4th April 2024 stating that all revoked passport holders will be issued OCI based cards on the revoked passport order. “Based on this circular, and on their own analysis of the case, the High Court judges has specifically passed the order that as per the MEA circular, revoked passport holders will be issued a OCI status upon producing a revoked certificate.
“Therefore the corrigendum of 30th April 2024 has no significance as GFG totally relies on the order of the High Court and the MEA/MHA has to comply within 4 weeks or it will amount to contempt of court,” Kennedy said.
He, however, said the corrigendum exposes the fact that the MEA has not been applying its mind properly to this issue, and that the MEA/MHA and the government are not working in tandem, to resolve the issues of the people, probably due to inter dept rivalries, and game of one-upmanship.
“If the circular of 04/04/2024 was not approved by the MHA why was it released to the RPOs, by the MEA? What purpose did it solve? None,” he added.
Saying that the revoked passport holders have suffered enough mental trauma for the last 18 months, Kennedy has appealed to the MEA/MHA to resolve their inter department squabbles and focus on giving relief to the people, who has been made to suffer for the 18 months unnecessarily, by denying them the right to apply for OCI, despite them being entitled to OCI through naturalisation.
Double-engine govt had no intention in giving relief to Goans, says Vijai
MARGAO: Goa Forward chief Vijai Sardesai has said it’s now abundantly clear that the double-engine government had no intention of bringing any relief to the thousands of Goans applying for OCI cards.
The MEA’s earlier office memorandum which Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had called ‘great news’ has now turned to ‘horrible news’ with the MEA passing the buck to the Home Ministry.
“Goa elections are over, BJP U-turns begin. Will the CM now call up everyone at the Centre he’s earlier thanked, and register his protest on behalf of Goans? Or should Goans take this event also as yet another example of the habitual insensitivity and chronic insincerity that define BJP Goa and its leaders,” Sardesai said.
