Supreme Court to Begin Hearing on the Constitutional Validity of Section 6A of Citizenship Act in Assam
September 20, 2023, 14:20 IST – In a significant development, the Supreme Court announced on Wednesday that it will commence hearing on October 17 to examine the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act. This section pertains to illegal immigrants in Assam.
Section 6A was included in the Citizenship Act as a special provision to address the citizenship status of individuals covered by the Assam Accord. According to this provision, individuals who migrated to Assam from specified territories, including Bangladesh, between January 1, 1966, and March 25, 1971, and have been residing in Assam since then, must register themselves under section 18 to obtain citizenship.
The provision sets March 25, 1971, as the cut-off date for granting citizenship to Bangladeshi migrants in Assam. Currently, there are 17 pending petitions on this issue in the apex court, including one filed by the Assam Public Works in 2009.
A five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, acknowledged that nodal counsels have prepared a common compilation on the matter. However, the bench emphasized the need to streamline the common compilation for clarity and organization.
“The soft copy of the common compilation shall be prepared by October, and written submissions shall be filed by October 10,” stated the bench, which also includes Justices AS Bopanna, MM Sundresh, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra.
The top court also declared that the title of the proceedings will be “In Re: Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955.” In December 2022, the court had tasked the counsels for the contesting parties to decide the issues for adjudication in the batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Section 6A.
The bench directed the parties to segregate the cases that require a decision by the court into distinct categories and determine the order of arguments. Furthermore, the court ordered the apex court registry to provide scanned soft copies of the complete set of pleadings filed on the issue.
Under the Assam Accord signed in 1985, which involved the All Assam Students Union, Assam government, and Government of India, Section 6A was inserted into the Citizenship Act to grant citizenship to migrants who had moved to Assam. However, a Guwahati-based NGO contested the provision in 2012, deeming it arbitrary, discriminatory, and unconstitutional due to its variation in dates for regularizing illegal migrants in Assam. In 2014, a two-judge bench referred the matter to the Constitution bench.
Please note that this article has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI.
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