Chandigarh, December 11, 2025 (Bharat Khabarnama Bureau) : In a significant intervention, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed Panjab University Chandigarh to grant admission to a Canadian-passport holder of Indian origin who was denied a seat in the five-year B.Com LL.B programme despite securing a much higher merit score than the last selected NRI quota candidate. The court noted that the university’s policy had placed the student at an unfair disadvantage and needed judicial correction.
The petitioner, Eknoor Kaur Bains, was born in Canada to Punjabi parents who returned to India within a year. She completed her schooling from Class 1 to 12 in Chandigarh but retained her Canadian passport. She applied to Panjab University for admission based on merit. With a score of 99, her position should have been above many candidates in the NRI quota, where the last admitted student had a score of 64.8. Instead, by categorising her as a foreign national, the university placed her at serial number 27, below all NRI candidates.
Her counsel Advocate Gagan Pardeep Singh Bal has contended that the admission policy of the university was arbitrary, had changed this year, and had resulted in a meritorious candidate being unfairly sidelined. The court agreed that the matter required consideration and found the university’s stand untenable in light of her significantly higher merit and Indian origin status.
Taking note of the “peculiar facts and circumstances” put forth by her lawyer, the bench of Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor directed the university to offer her admission immediately and allow her to attend classes. If all seats have been filled, the university must create an additional seat for her, subject to the final outcome of the petition. The court clarified that this interim relief will not serve as a precedent in future cases.
