Can NRI applicants apply in the general category in NIFT?

I really dont think so because I tried to do the same and also gave entrance (phase1) but was told that since my 12th grade result will say that I’m from Qatar and not India they have all the rights to reject my application during counselling after which it will be too late and I don’t think I’ll have any other way so I applied through NRI from the first itself and got in through that since it is also a very smooth process if you have a decent SAT score.