3 min readNew DelhiMay 12, 2026 09:41 PM IST
Noting that “reasons are heart and soul” in an order, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday set aside a communication by the Ministry of Home Affairs in which journalist Siddharth Varadarajan’s request to convert his Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card to Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card was turned down.
Addressing the authorities, Justice Purushaindra Kaurav, noting that no reasons had been assigned for denying Varadarajan’s request, remarked, “What is this? Can this order be sustained?…This order cannot be sustained, you’ll have to reconsider the petitioner’s entitlements by way of some speaking order (reasoned order). Let me set aside this order, I will grant you liberty to reconsider it, and pass a speaking order.”
The HC said, “Thereafter, the petitioner can take some remedy; otherwise, he cannot even challenge this order. What will the appellate authority do or adjudicate unless there are some reasons given?”
Recording in the order that “there are no reasons assigned in the impugned communication as to why the application could not be considered favourably”, and that “unless respondents assign the reason, the appellate court may not be able to appreciate the veracity thereto,” the court set aside the April 2 communication, adding that the “reasons are heart and soul” in an order.
While Varadarajan, who is one of the founding editors of digital news platform The Wire, had applied for conversion of his PIO card to OCI card in 2022, the MHA, after keeping the application pending for more than four years, refused it in a one-line email on April 2 without ascribing any reasons for the denial.
Varadarajan, an American citizen with roots in India and living continuously here since 1995, was issued a PIO card in October 2002.
In 2015, following a notification under the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955, all existing PIO cardholders stood deemed to be OCI cardholders by operation of law. Varadarajan had then applied for physical conversion of his PIO card into OCI documentation, after his existing card stopped being machine readable, before FRRO (Foreigners Regional Registration Office) in New Delhi in January 2022.
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In the email rejecting his request, the authorities had further told Varadarajan “to avail appropriate visa services from authority for stay and travel as the PIO card is not valid for stay and travel wef 01.01.2026.”
The court said that Varadarajan’s earlier 2022 application, seeking conversion of PIO to OCI, stands restored, and that the same be reconsidered and an order in this regard be passed by the authorities.
Meanwhile, the court kept Varadarajan’s application, seeking permission to travel to Estonia for a conference scheduled from May 15 to 17, pending. Issuing notice to the authorities, the court will hear the matter on Wednesday.
