Those born between 1950-1987 eligible for citizenship
SHILLONG: The children of Tibetan refugees born in Shillong or elsewhere in the country after January 26, 1950, and before July 1, 1987, as per the Citizenship Act, 1955, will be considered as Indian citizens.
The High Court of Meghalaya in its recent order, while taking up the case of three petitioners who were born to Tibetan parents in Shillong, ordered that they are Indian citizens and are entitled to all the benefits and privileges.
This would mean that they will have voting rights and can avail themselves of other benefits that an Indian citizen would get.
The three writ petitioners whose cases were taken up jointly by the High Court said since they were born in India after January 26, 1950 and before July 1, 1987, they are citizens of India by virtue of Section 3 (1) (a) of the Citizenship Act of 1955, but such rights were denied to them by the Union of India and the State of Meghalaya without any justification and reason.
Advocate M.F Qureshi took up the cases of petitioners Tenzing Choden Sherpa and Doma Tsering while advocate R. Gurung represented Phuntsok Tashi.
The High Court after considering the submissions and examining the documents was of the view that the respondents (Union of India and State of Meghalaya) had been entirely unjustified in denying the rights to the petitioners as citizens of India though such rights flow directly and unfailingly by the operation of the plain provisions of the law.
The court said each of the petitioners was born after January 26, 1950, but before July 1, 1987, “and none of them has been shown suffering from any of the disqualifications”.
The Court observed that similar cases were examined by the Delhi High Court involving Namgyal Dolkar and Phuntsok Wangyal, and the Karnataka High Court in Tenzin Choephang Ling Rinpoche case. The petitioners’ Indian citizenship was upheld by the respective courts under the 1955 Act.