IMPORTANT POINT
The court established that in cases where compliance with statutory requirements is rendered impossible due to circumstances beyond the applicants' control, alternative evidence of intent to renounce foreign citizenship may suffice for the grant of citizenship.

JUDGMENT :

T.R. RAVI, J.

1. The petitioners have approached this Court seeking directions to the 1st respondent to consider Ext.P12 representation submitted by the 1st petitioner and to grant citizenship to the 2nd and 3rd petitioners without insisting on a Renunciation Certificate in evidence of renunciation of Pakistani citizenship.

2. The 1st petitioner is the mother of the 2nd and 3rd petitioners. The husband of the 1st petitioner, Sri Mohammed Maroof, was born in India in a village called Kottayam-Malabar in Kannur District. Ext.P1 is the birth certificate of the husband of the 1st petitioner. Sri Mohammed Maroof became an orphan at the age of nine, and he was adopted by his grandmother. In 1977, he migrated to Pakistan along with his grandmother. He was issued with a Pakistani passport later. Sri Maroof is now employed in the United Arab Emirates. He married the 1st petitioner, who is his uncle’s daughter. In the year 2008, Sri Maroof’s family moved to India on the basis of permission granted by the Indian Government to stay in India initially for a specific time frame, and the said period has been extended from time to time.

3. The petitioners submitted applications in Form VI as per Rule 8 (1) (a) of the Citizenship Rules, 2009 for registration as Indian Citizens under Section 5 (1)(f) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 ('the Act' for short). The copies of the applications submitted by the 2nd and 3rd petitioners have been produced as Exts.P2. and P2(a) respectively. On 09.11.2016, the 1st respondent issued orders in respect of the 2nd petitioner stating that the Government of India has decided to grant registration to the 2nd petitioner under Section 5(1)(f) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, subject to compliance with certain requirements and submission of documents. A similar order was issued in respect of the 3rd petitioner on 05.09.2017. The above two orders have been produced as Exts.P3 and P3(a) respectively. One of the documents that was required to be submitted is the Renunciation Certificate issued by the Pakistani Government. The 2nd and 3rd petitioners have submitted all other documents that had been required to be submitted. The petitioners have stated in the representations submitted as Exts.P4 and P4(a) before the 4th respondent and the 5th respondent, that the Pakistani Embassy would issue a Renunciation Certificate only after they attain the age of 21 years and that in their cases such certificates cannot be issued even after the attainment of 21 years as the petitioners 2 and 3 had already surrendered their respective Pakistani passports before attaining the age of 21 years. On 08.05.2018, the Pakistan High Commission issued certificates stating that they have no objection to granting Indian citizenship to the 2nd and 3rd petitioners. Exts.P5 and P5(a) are the No Objection Certificates issued on 08.05.2018. The 2nd respondent had forwarded Ext.P6 Government Order to the 1st respondent stating that all documents except the Renunciation Certificate have been submitted. The 1st respondent sent Ext.P7 reply on 17.07.2019 stating that the No Objection Certificates that have been forwarded are not acceptable, that Renunciation Certificate is mandatory, and that petitioners 2 and 3 will remain as Pakistani Citizens in the records unless they renounce their Pakistani citizenship.

4. Heard learned counsel for the petitioners, learned CGC for the 1st respondent and learned Government Pleader for respondents 2 to 4.

5. Section 14A of the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951 deals with renunciation of Pakistani citizenship. As per Section 14 A (1) of the Act, if any citizen of Pakistan residing outside Pakistan, who is not a minor and has been given by the competent authority of another country any valid document assuring him of the grant of citizenship or nationality of that country, upon renouncing his citizenship of Pakistan, makes a declaration renouncing his citizenship of Pakistan, in the prescribed manner, the declaration shall