NEW DELHI, Jan 10: In a significant move, the Supreme Court has decided to examine the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act relating to illegal immigrants in Assam, the hearing for which will commence from February 14.
It is pertinent to note that Section 6A in the Citizenship Act was inserted as a special provision to deal with the citizenship of people covered by the Assam Accord.
The provision, which was introduced in 1985 following the signing of the Assam Accord between the Government of India and agitating groups in the state, provides that those who have come to Assam on or after January 1, 1966 but before March 25, 1971 from specified territories, including Bangladesh, as per the Citizenship Act amended in 1985, and since then are residents of Assam, must register themselves under section 18 for citizenship.
As a result, the provision fixes March 25, 1971 as the cut-off date for granting citizenship to Bangladeshi migrants in Assam.
A five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, while hearing the petitions challenging the Section 6A in the Citizenship Act on Tuesday, said that it will first examine and decide if the special provision is constitutionally valid before proceeding to other issues raised in the pleas.
“Presently, the following issue as framed for primary determination for the Constitution bench whether section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, suffers from any constitutional infirmity,” the bench said, making it clear that this would be the main issue to be adjudicated upon and this will cover all other constitutional questions which may arise in the matter. The framing of one issue does not stop the bench from framing other issues later, said the bench, which also comprises Justices MR Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli, and PS Narasimha.
The top court on December 13 had asked the counsel for the contesting parties to decide the issues for adjudication in a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act relating to illegal immigrants in Assam.
“The counsel would segregate the cases which fall for decision before this court into distinct categories and the order in which the arguments are to be made,” the bench had said, adding “we will keep it for directions”.
The bench had directed the apex court registry to provide scanned soft copies of the complete set of pleadings filed on the issue.
As many as 17 petitions, including the one filed by Assam Public Works in 2009, are pending on the issue in the apex court.
Prior to this, the Constitution bench had directed the parties to file joint compilations consisting of “written submissions; precedents; and any other documentary material on which reliance will be placed at the time of hearing”.
Under the Assam Accord signed by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), Assam government and the Government of India on August 15, 1985, to detect and deport the foreigners, Section 6A was inserted to the Citizenship Act to grant citizenship to people who have migrated to Assam.
A Guwahati-based NGO challenged section 6A in 2012, terming it arbitrary, discriminatory and unconstitutional, claiming it provides different dates for regularising illegal migrants in Assam.
A two-judge bench had referred the matter to the Constitution bench in 2014.
Meanwhile, appearing for the Centre on Tuesday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta also urged the top court to also look into another issue approved by the Attorney General, which was “whether the Assam accord, a memorandum of settlement between the Union of India, the State of Assam, All Assam Students Union, and All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad arrived at for resolving a long-pending issue, being a political settlement and a matter of great policy importance can at all be judicially reviewed at this stage as courts will decline to enter into the political thicket and annul matters of such magnitude and immense consequences”. (With PTI inputs)