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2023 Supreme(SC) 1854

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
D.Y. Chandrachud, C.J.I, Surya Kant, M.M. Sundresh, J.B. Pardiwala, Manoj Misra, J.
In Re: Section 6a Of The Citizenship Act 1955
Writ Petition (Civil) No.274/2009
Decided On : 07-12-2023

Advocates Appeared:
For the Petitioner: Mr. Shyam Divan, Sr. Adv., Mr. Vijay Hansaria, Sr. Adv., Mr. Somiran Sharma, AOR, Mr. Udayaditya Banerjee, Adv., Ms. Kavya Jhawar, Adv., Mr. Sudipto Sircar, Adv., Ms. Anshula Laroiya, Adv., Mr. Adith Deshmukh, Adv., Mr. Arpit Jacob Varaprasad, Adv., Ms. Shristi Borthakur, Adv., Mr. Dhrubajit Saikia, Adv., Ms. Aadya Malik, Adv., Mr. Suryanusen Gupta, Adv., Mr. K N Choudhury, Sr. Adv., Mr. Manish Goswami, Adv., Mr. Navneet Gautam, Adv., Mr. Rongon Choudhury, Adv., Mr. Rishabh Sharma, Adv., Mr. Priyonkoo Anjan Gogoi, Adv., Mr. Rameshwar Prasad Goyal, AOR, Mr. Anjani Kumar Mishra, AOR, Mr. Kapil Sibal, Sr. Adv., & Ms. Indira Jaising, Sr. Adv., Mr. Salman Khurshid, Sr. Adv., Mr. Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, AOR, Mr. Nizam Pasha, Adv., Mr. Gautam Bhatia, Adv., Ms. Rupali Samuel, Adv., Mr. Ibad Mushtaq, Adv., Ms. Sumedha Ray Sarkar, Adv., Mr. Mustafa Khaddam Hussain, Adv., Mr. Paras Nath Singh, Adv., Mr. Rohin Bhatt, Adv., Ms. Lubna Naaz, Adv., Ms. Tehsheena Z Hussain, Adv., Ms. Akanksha Rai, Adv., Mr. Mohammad Wasim, Adv., Mr. Shahid Nadeem, Adv., Mr. Sadeeq Sherwani, Adv., Ms. Gurneet Kaur, Adv., Mr. Shivendra Singh, AOR, Mr. Bikram Dwivedi, Adv., Mr. Sanjeev Chaudhary, Adv., Mr. Puneett Singhal, Adv., Mr. Somesh Chandra Jha, AOR, Mr. Sanjay Hegde, Sr. Adv., Mr. Anas Tanwir, Adv., Mr. Mrigank Prabhakar, AOR, Mr. Partha Sil, AOR, & Mr. Mansoor Ali, AOR, Mr. Syed Shahid Husain Rizvi, Adv., Mr. Bilal Mansoor, Adv., Mr. S. Islam, Adv., Mr. Imtiyaz Ali, Adv., Mr. Mukul Kumar, AOR, Mr. Anish Roy, Adv.,
For the Respondent: Mr. R. Venkatramani, Attorney General for India, UOI Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General, Mr. K.M. Nataraj, A.S.G., Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR, Mrs. Rekha Pandey, Adv., Mrs. Shraddha Deshmukh, Adv., Mrs. Ruchi Kohli, Adv., Mr. Kanu Agrawal, Adv., Mrs. Ruchi Gour Narula, Adv., Ms. Diksha Rai, Adv., Mrs. Sneha Kalita, Adv., Ms. Sonali Jain, Adv., Mr. Raman Yadav, Adv., Mr. Chitvan Singhal, Adv., Mr. Kartikay Aggarwal, Adv., Mr. Abhishek Kumar Pandy, Adv., Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv., Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR, Mrs. Mrinal Elkar Mazumdar, Adv., Mr. Anil Hooda, Adv., Mr. Rajesh Singh Chauhan, Adv., Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, Adv.
For The Assasm : Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General, Mr. Devajit Saikia, Sr Adv/Adv Gen Assam, Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR, Ms. Diksha Rai, Adv., Mr. Kanu Agrawal, Adv., Mr. P Nayak, Adv., Mr. Madhav Sinhal, Adv., Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv., Mr. Kritagya Kait, Adv., Mr. Tanmay Mehta, Adv., Mr. Rohit Khare, Adv., Mr. Akshay Nain, Adv., Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Adv., Mr. Saurabh Tripathi, Adv., Mr. Arijit Dey, Adv., Ms. Atiga Singh, Adv., Ms. Apurva Sachdev, Adv., Mr. Kapil Sibal, Sr. Adv., Ms. Indira Jaising, Sr. Adv., Mr. Salman Khurshid, Sr. Adv., Mr. Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, AOR, Mr. Nizam Pasha, Adv., Mr. Gautam Bhatia, Adv., Mr. Mustafa Khaddam Hussain, Adv., Ms. Rupali Samuel, Adv., Mr. Ibad Mushtaq, Adv., Mr. Paras Nath Singh, Adv., Mr. Mohammad Wasim, Adv., Mr. Rohin Bhatt, Adv., Ms. Sumedha Ray Sarkar, Adv., Ms. Lubna Naaz, Adv., Ms. Tehsheena Z Hussain, Adv., Ms. Akanksha Rai, Adv., Mr. Shahid Nadeem, Adv., Mr. Sadeeq Sherwani, Adv., Ms. Gurneet Kaur, Adv., Mr. Syed Ashhar, Adv., Mr. Arkam Pasha, Adv., Mr. Dushyant Dave, Sr. Adv., Mr. Mansoor Ali, AOR, Mr. M.R. Shamshad, Adv., Mr. Syed Shahid Husain Rizvi, Adv., Mr. Bilal Mansoor, Adv., Ms. Rubina Jawed, Adv., Mr. S Islam, Adv., Mr. Imtiyaz Ali, Adv., Mr. Arijit Sarkar, Adv., Mr. Zeeshan Rizvi, Adv., Ms. Nabeela Jamil, Adv., Ms. Malvika Trivedi, Sr. Adv., Mr. Ankit Yadav, AOR, Ms. Sujal Gupta, Adv., Mr. Shailendra Slaria, Adv., Ms. Prakriti Rastogi, Adv., Mr. Tarun Mehra, Adv., Mr. Gajjala Bhaskar, Adv., Mrs. Malvika Trivedi, Sr. Adv., Mr. Ankit Yadav, Adv., Ms. Sujal Gupta, Adv., Mr. Shailendra Slaria, Adv., Ms. Prakriti Rastogi, Adv., Mr. T. Mahipal, AOR, Mr. Chander Uday Singh, Sr. Adv., Ms. Aparna Bhat, AOR, Mr. Gautam Bhatia, Adv., Ms. Bidya Mohanty, Adv., Ms. Karishma Maria, Adv., Mr. Mrinmoy Dutta, Adv., Mr. Amjid Maqbool, Adv., Mr. P V Surendranath, Sr. Adv., Mr. Biju P Raman, AOR, Mr. Sawan Kumar Shukla, Adv., Mr. John Thomas Arakal, Adv., Mrs. Lekha Sudhakar, Adv., Ms. Ruchi Kohli, AOR, Ms. Sneha Kalita, AOR, Ms. Krishna Sarma, Adv., Mr. Navnit Kumar, Adv., Mr. Pradeep Kumar, Adv., Mr. Mr. Pradeep Kumar, Adv., For M/S. Corporate Law Group, AOR, Mr. Gaurav Dhingra, AOR, Mr. Ardhendumauli Kumar Prasad, A.A.G., Mr. Pradeep Misra, AOR, Mr. Daleep Dhyani, Adv., Mr. Manoj Kumar Sharma, Adv., Mr. Suraj Singh, Adv., Mr. Bhuwan Chandra, Adv., Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, AOR, Mr. Debojit Borkakati, AOR, Mr. Mohit D. Ram, AOR, Ms. Sushma Suri, AOR, Mr. Sahil Tagotra, AOR, Mr. Sidhant Kumar, Adv., Ms. Manyaa Chandok, Adv., Ms. Ishita Deswal, Adv., Ms. Abhivyakti Banerjee, Adv., Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR, Mr. Srisatya Mohanty, Adv., Ms. Anju Thomas, Adv., Mr. Sanjeev Kaushik, Adv., Ms. Mantika Haryani, Adv., Mr. Shreyas Awasthi, Adv., Mr. Himanshu Chakravarty, Adv., Ms. Ripul Swati Kumari, Adv., Mr. Bhanu Mishra, Adv., Ms. Muskan Surana, Adv., Ms. Lihzu Shiney Konyak, Adv., Ms. Anvita Dwivedi, Adv., Ms. G. Indira, AOR, Mr. G. N. Reddy, AOR, Mrs. Niranjana Singh, AOR, Mr. Ashok Kumar Singh, AOR, Mr. Shantwanu Singh, Adv., Mr. Rahul Dubey, Adv., Ms. Pragya Singh, Adv., Mr. Akshay Singh, Adv., Mr. Siddhesh Shirish Kotwal, AOR, Ms. Ana Upadhyay, Adv., Ms. Manya Hasija, Adv., Mr. Tejasvi Gupta, Adv., Mr. Pawan Upadhyay, Adv., Mr. T. Illayarasu, Adv., Mr. Sumeer Sodhi, AOR, Mr. Chaitanya Sharma, Adv., Mr. V.K. Sidharthan, AOR, Mr. D.S. Mahra, AOR, Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR, Mr. Merusagar Samantaray, AOR, Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR, Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, Adv., Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR, Mr. Anuvrat Sharma, AOR, Mr. Barun Kumar Sinha, A.A.G., Mr. Rajiv Shankar Dvivedi, Adv., Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR, Mr. Shwetank Singh, Adv., Mr. C. K. Sasi, AOR, Ms. Meena K Poulose, Adv., Ms. Liz Mathew, AOR, Mr. Abhinav Mukerji, AOR, Mrs. Bihu Sharma, Adv., Ms. Pratishtha Vij, Adv., Mr. Mohit Prasad, Adv., Mr. Saurabh Mishra, A.A.G., Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR, Mr. Mrigna Shekhar, Adv., Mr. Sandeep Sharma, Adv., Mr. Tapesh Kumar Singh, A.A.G./AOR, Mr. Aditya Pratap Singh, Adv., Mr. Priyanshu Malik, Adv., Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv., Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR, Mr. Bharat Bagla, Adv., Mr. Sourav Singh, Adv., Mr. Aditya Krishna, Adv., Ms. Raavi Sharma, Adv., M/S. K J John And Co, AOR, Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR, Mr. Karun Shrama, Adv., Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR, Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR, Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR, Mr. Manendra Pal Gupta, Adv., Mr. K N Balgopal Adv. Gen. Nagaland/Sr. Adv., Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR, Ms. Limayinla Jamir, Adv., Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv., Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv., Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv., Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, Adv., Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, Adv., Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR, Ms. Devyani Bhatt, Adv., Dr. Manish Singhvi, Sr. Adv., Mr. Apurv Singhvi, Adv., Ms. Shubhangi Agarwal, Adv., Mr. Rohan Darade, Adv., Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR, Ms. Ranjeeta Rohatgi, AOR, Mr. Kuldip Singh, AOR, Mr. Gurminder Singh, Adv. Gen Punjab/Sr. Adv., Mr. Ajay Pal, AOR, Mr. Mayank Dahiya, Adv., Ms. Sugandh Rathor, Adv., Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, AOR, Mr. Anand Kumar Dubey, Adv., Ms. Harsha Sharma, Adv., Mr. Simanta Kumar, Adv., Mr. Devvrat Singh, Adv., Mr. Jainendra Kumar, Adv., Mr. Maneesh Pathak, Adv., Mr. Nishant Verma, Adv., Mr. Kailas U More, Adv., Mrs. Nirmala D Borade, Adv., Mr. Narendra Kumar, AOR, Mr. Amit Anand Tiwari, A.A.G., Mr. Sabarish Subramanian, AOR, Ms. Devyani Gupta, Adv., Mr. C Kranthi Kumar, Adv., Mr. Vishnu Unnikrishnan, Adv., Mr. Naman Dwivedi, Adv., Mr. Danish Saifi, Adv., Ms. Tanvi Anand, Adv., Ms. V Keerthana, Adv., Mr. B. Balaji, AOR, Mr. Sri Harsha Peechara, Adv., Mr. Duvvuri Subrahmanya Bhanu, Adv., Ms. Pallavi, Adv., Ms. Kriti Sinha, Adv., Mr. Akshat Kulshreshtha, Adv., Mr. Rajiv Kumar Choudhry, AOR, Dr. Joseph Aristotle S., AOR, Mrs. Swarupama Chaturvedi, AOR, Mr. Siddharth Sangal, AOR, Mr. Parijat Sinha, AOR, Mr. Sanjay R Hegde, Sr. Adv., Mr. Adeel Ahmed, AOR, Mr. Abdur Rehman Sikdar, Adv., Mr. Raja Chatterjee, Adv., Ms. Taqdees Fatima, Adv., Mr. Anas Tanwir, Adv., Mr. Piyush Sachdev, Adv., Mr. Md Sharuk Ali, Adv., Ms. Anupama Gupta, Adv., Ms. Riya Dutta, Adv., Ms. Sana Parveen, Adv., Ms. Lilly Biswas, Adv., Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR, Mr. Partha Sil, AOR, Mr. Shibashish Misra, AOR, Mr. Anupam Lal Das, Sr. Adv., Mr. Rahul Pratap, AOR, Mr. G. N. Reddy, AOR, Mr. Satish Kumar, AOR, Mr. Mehmood Pracha, Adv., Mr. Syed Ali Ahmad, Adv., Mr. Syed Tanweer Ahmad, Adv., Mr. Syed Miran Ahmad, Adv., Mr. S S Bandyopadhyay, Adv., Mr. Ankit Verma, Adv., Mr. S Kundu, Adv., Mr. Abhaya Nath Das, Adv., Mrs. Barnali Basak, Adv., Ms. Riya Soni, Adv., Mr. V K Shukla, Adv., Mr. B C Bhatt, Adv., Mr. Rahul Singh, Adv., Mr. Pashupathi Nath Razdan, AOR, Ms. Maitreyee Jagat Joshi, Adv., Mr. Astik Gupta, Adv., Ms. Akanksha Tomar, Adv., Mr. Argha Roy, Adv., Mr. Gaurav Kumar, Adv., Mr. Ajay Tewari, Sr. Adv., Mr. Abhimanyu Tewari, AOR, Ms. Eliza Bar, Adv., Mr. Somesh Chandra Jha, AOR, Mr. Harsh Parashar, AOR, Mr. Mohit Chaudhary, AOR, Mrs. Swarupama Chaturvedi, AOR, Ms. Sneha Kalita, AOR, Mr. Anjani Kumar Mishra, AOR, Dr. P.N. Mishra, Adv., Mrs. Hardeep Kaur Mishra, Adv., Mr. Praveen Mishra, Adv., Mr. Sanand Ramakrishnan, AOR, Ms. Rashmi Singhania, AOR, Ms. Bharti Tyagi, AOR, Mr. Chandra Shekhar, Adv., Mr. Vikash Kumar, Adv., Ms. Rashmi Nandakumar, AOR, Mr. Dhawal Uniyal , AOR, Mr. Saurabh Mishra, A.A.G., Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR, Mr. Mrigna Shekhar, Adv., Mr. Sandeep Sharma, Adv., Mr. Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, Adv., Mr. Ashwani Kumar Dubey, AOR, Mr. Chandra Shekhar, Adv., Mr. Praveen Swarup, AOR, Mr. Avijit Roy, AOR, Mr. Vivek Sharma, AOR, Ms. Krishna Sarma, Adv., Mr. Navnit Kumar, Adv., Mr. Pradeep Kumar, Adv., Mr. Mr. Pradeep Kumar, Adv., For M/S. Corporate Law Group, AOR, Mr. Colin Gonsalves, Sr. Adv., Ms. Hetvi Patel, Adv., Mr. Satya Mitra, AOR, Mr. Abhishek, AOR, Mr. Rameshwar Prasad Goyal, AOR, Mr. Shadan Farasat, AOR, Mr. Krishna Dev Jagarlamudi, AOR, Mr. Mohan Pandey, AOR

The court examines the framework of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act concerning citizenship eligibility based on residency and ongoing arguments regarding its constitutional validity are discussed.

Headnote:(A) Citizenship Act, 1955 - Section 6A - The court categorizes Section 6A into three time periods concerning the eligibility for citizenship based on residence in Assam, and outlines the conditions of proving citizenship, especially for those detected as foreigners. (Paras 1-6)

(B) Constitutional validity - The court is currently hearing arguments regarding the constitutionality of Section 6A, including its implications on demographic changes and cultural fabric, in relation to Articles 14, 21, 29, and 355 of the Constitution of India. (Para 5)

Facts of the case:
The court has called for data disclosures from the Union and State Governments pertaining to the number of citizenship grants and illegal immigration assessments following specific timelines, as part of ongoing discussions about the impact of Section 6A.

Findings of Court:
The court emphasizes the need for comprehensive figures on citizenship grants and illegal immigration for making informed decisions on the constitutional validity of Section 6A.

Issues: The main issues revolve around the constitutional validity of Section 6A and its effects on Assam’s demographics.

Ratio Decidendi: The necessity for detailed information from governmental bodies is emphasized to assess the implications of illegal immigration and citizenship provisions adequately.

Result: The matter is adjourned for further hearing on 12 December 2023.

Table of Content
1. classification of citizenship provisions under section 6a. (Para 1 , 2 , 3 , 4)
2. constitutional validity of section 6a challenged. (Para 5)
3. data disclosures required from union government. (Para 6)
4. next hearing scheduled for december 12, 2023. (Para 7 , 8 , 9)

ORDER :

1. The provisions of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act 1955 can broadly be bifurcated in three time periods:

    (i) The period prior to 1 January 1966 (Sub-section 2);

    (ii) The period between 1 January 1966 and 25 March 1971 (Sub-section 3); and

    (iii) The period from 26 March 1971.

2. Section 6A has provided for the grant of citizenship to persons of Indian origin, originating in the specified territory who have entered Assam between the statutory time periods (set out in (i) and (ii) above) and who have been ordinarily residents of Assam after the date of entry.

3. The distinction between sub-section (2) and sub-section (3) of Section 6A is that the grant of citizenship under sub-section (3) is contingent on additional condition, namely, detection by the Foreigners Tribunal under the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order 1964 and registration. Upon being detected as a foreigner, sub-section (3) contemplates that such an individual must be registered in accordance with the rules made by the Central Government under Section 18. Sub-section (4) of Section 6A stipulates that such an individual would be entitled to the same rights and obligations as a citizen of India, but would not be entitled to entry in the electoral roll for a period of ten years. Upon the expiry of ten years, the person registered under sub-section (3) would be deemed to be a citizen of India for all purposes.

4. The third period is after 26 March 1971. The provisions of Section 6A make it abundantly clear that the conferment of deemed citizenship does not extend to such persons who have entered on or after 26 March 1971.

5. This Court is in the process of hearing arguments assailing the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act 1955. While the arguments raising the constitutional challenge form the core of the controversy, submissions have been urged before this Court in regard to the impact of illegal immigration into Assam, inter alia, on the demographics and the cultural fabric of the State. Other submissions have been urged, including the validity of the provision on the anvil of Articles 14, 21, 29 and 355 of the Constitution of India.

6. At this stage, it is necessary to have certain data based disclosures by the Union Government in the Ministry of Home Affairs. Where a specific aspects of the data which has been sought by this order implicates the functions of the State Government, the data shall be shared by the Government of Assam with the Ministry of Home Affairs. However, the learned Solicitor General has indicated that a common affidavit shall be filed both on behalf of the Union of India and the State of Assam since both the entities are represented by him. An affidavit shall be filed before this Court on or before 11 December 2023 on the following aspects:

    (i) The number of persons to whom citizenship has been granted under the provisions of Section 6A(2), namely, persons who came into Assam between 1 January 1966 and 25 March 1971;

    (ii) How many persons have been detected to be foreigners by an order of the Foreigners Tribunal under the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order 1964 with reference to the above period of 1966 – 1971;

    (iii) The estimated inflow of illegal migrants into India, including but not confined to the State of Assam after 25 March 1971;

    (iv) In respect of persons who are alleged to have entered India, including the State of Assam, after 25 March 1971:

    (a) The total number of Foreigners Tribunals which have been set up by the Union/State Government(s) and how many are functioning at present;

    (b) The total number of cases which have been disposed of;

    (c) The number of cases which are pending as of date;

    (d) The average time taken for the disposal of cases; and

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