By: Mohsin Rahim

Imagine this: you are a specialist doctor working in the UK. You have a comfortable life, a high salary, and global recognition. But your heart beats for your homeland. You remember the words of former Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who explicitly called upon doctors of Indian origin abroad to return. In 2012, he urged them to come back, promising them the opportunity to serve their motherland and even engage in private practice to make their return viable.

Inspired by such high-level assurances, you pack your bags, leave your lucrative career, and return to serve in a government hospital. You worked through the COVID-19 pandemic, risking your life to save thousands. Then, one day, the police knock on your door. You are not being given an award; you are being charged with a crime. Your crime? “Cheating” the government by working as a doctor while holding an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card.

This sounds like a dystopian nightmare, but for many specialised OCI doctors, it is a terrifying reality. In a shocking display of bureaucratic confusion, state-level authorities are prosecuting OCI professionals for the “crime” of serving the nation. This administrative hostility is not just a tragedy for the individuals involved; it is a legal disaster that exposes a deep disconnect in how our bureaucracy interprets the law. It is a classic case of the right hand (the Central Government) inviting talent in, while the left hand (local agencies) handcuffs them.

The Invitation: You Were Never “Foreigners”

To understand why these prosecutions are legally questionable, we must look at the rules as they stood when these doctors returned. The narrative being peddled by investigative agencies, claiming that OCI holders are “foreigners” who illegally “infiltrated” government jobs, is legally unsound. It ignores a decade of laws that explicitly invited these professionals.

Between 2005 and 2013, the government rolled out the red carpet. They issued a series of “Gazette Notifications”, or official government orders, that tore down the walls between an “Indian Citizen” and an “Overseas Citizen” in the professional world.

The permissions that created a vested right for these doctors are as follows:

1. The “One of Us” Rule (2005): The Ministry of Home........

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