Tag: punjab caa

SC to Hear Plea Challenging Centre’s Notification on Citizenship to Non-Muslim Refugees in 2 Weeks

In an affidavit filed in the top court, the Centre has said that its notification does not relate to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would hear after two weeks a plea challenging the Centre’s notification inviting non-Muslims belonging to Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan and residing in 13 districts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Punjab to apply for Indian citizenship.

The matter came up for hearing before a vacation bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and V. Ramasubramanian.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner, said the Centre had filed a counter affidavit on the issue on Monday.

The Union of India has filed a counter affidavit yesterday. We need two weeks to file reply, Sibal told the bench.

The apex court said it would hear the matter after two weeks.

In its affidavit filed in the top court, the Centre has said that its notification does not relate to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) and is a “mere delegation of power vested with the Central Government to local authorities.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said that similar delegation of power has been permitted by the Central government in 2004, 2005, 206, 2016 and 2018 also and no relaxation whatsoever has been made in respect of the eligibility criteria between different foreign nationals which are laid down in the Citizenship Act, 1955 and rules made thereunder.

It is submitted that the notification dated May 28, 2021 does not relate to the CAA which has been inserted into the Act as section 6B,” the MHA said in the affidavit and added that it seeks to merely delegate the power of the Central government to the local authorities in particular cases.

Also read: With CAA Rules on Hold, Centre Invites Applications in 13 Districts Under 1955 Parent Act

The said notification does not provide for any relaxations to foreigners and applies only to foreigners who have entered the country legally as the Central Government used its authority under Section 16 of the Citizenship Act and delegated its powers to grant citizenship by Registration or Naturalisation to District Collectors, the MHA said.

The affidavit, filed in response to a plea by Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), said the May 28 notification is merely a process of decentralisation of decision making aimed at speedy disposal of the citizenship applications of such foreigners as the decision will now be taken at the district or state level itself after examining each case.

The IUML had recently moved the top court challenging the Centre’s notification inviting non-Muslims belonging to Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan and residing in 13 districts in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Punjab to apply for Indian citizenship.

The application claimed that the Centre is trying to circumvent the assurance given to the apex court in this regard in the pending petition filed by the IUML challenging the constitutional validity of the provisions of the CAA.

The CAA grants Indian citizenship to non-Muslim minorities Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian who migrated to India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh till December 31, 2014, following persecution over their faith.

IUML, in its plea, said that the Centre had during the course of hearing of its plea challenging the constitutional validity of CAA, submitted before the apex court and provided assurance that staying of the Amendment Act was not necessary since the rules of the Amendment Act had not been framed.

However, the respondent Union, in a roundabout way, and in an attempt to circumvent the assurance given to this court, have sought to implement their malafide designs envisaged under the Amendment Act through the recently issued order dated May 28, the plea submitted.

The apex court had in February 2020 sought response of the Centre on a batch of fresh pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

The top court, on December 18, 2019 had decided to examine the constitutional validity of the CAA while refusing to stay its operation.

While hearing a batch of petitions, the top court had on January 22, 2020 made it clear that the operation of CAA will not be stayed and gave the government four weeks to respond to the pleas challenging the CAA.

When the CAA was enacted in 2019, there were widespread protests in different parts of the country and even riots took place in Delhi in early 2020 in the wake of these protests.

With CAA Rules on Hold, Centre Invites Applications in 13 Districts Under 1955 Parent Act

The applications allow Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Christians and Buddhists from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh to become naturalised citizens.

New Delhi: A year-and-a-half after it enacted the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that provided a fast track route to citizenship for non-Muslim communities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Centre on Friday allowed Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Christians and Buddhists from these three countries who are residing in 13 districts of India to apply for the host country’s citizenship. However, the applications have been invited under the Citizenship Act of 1955 since the rules pertaining to the amended Act are yet to be finalised.

It may be recalled that the enactment of CAA, which was passed by parliament in December 2019 despite strong protests by the opposition, when twinned with the possible creation of a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC), was seen as a move which discriminated against the Muslims. There were widespread protests against these moves of the Centre.

The notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) read, “In exercise of powers conferred under Section 16 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 (57 of 1955), the Central Government hereby directs that powers exercisable by it for registration as citizen of India under Section 5, or for grant of certificate of naturalisation under section 6 of the Citizenship Act 1955 in respect of any person belonging to minority community in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, residing in the districts mentioned and the states mentioned below.”

The 13 districts – Morbi, Rajkot, Patan, Vadodara, Durg, Balodabazar, Jalore, Udaipur, Pali, Barmer, Sirohi, Faridabad and Jalandhar – fall in the fives states of Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab.

Incidentally, the notification for immediate implementation of the order has been issued under the Citizenship Act 1955 and Rules framed under the law in 2009 and not under the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 since its rules have still not been framed.

Though the rules are said to be essential for the implementation of the Act, the MHA has not been able to finalise them despite deliberating on them for over a year.

According to the Indian Express, these rules are required to specify the nature of documents that would be needed to prove whether an applicant came to India from the three countries before the cut off date, December 31, 2014. “Most [undocumented immigrants] have entered the country without any travel documents,” a source told the newspaper.

Earlier in 2018, a similar notification was issued by the Centre granting similar powers to collectors and home secretaries Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi with regard to some districts.

The notification, issued on May 28, has granted the same powers to the home secretaries of Haryana and Punjab, except for Faridabad and Jalandhar.

It further said that “the application for registration as citizen of India or grant of certificate of naturalisation as citizen of India under the said rules (Citizenship Rules, 2009) shall be made by the applicant online.”

Thereafter, it said, the verification of the application would be done simultaneously by collector or secretary (home) of Haryana and Punjab as the case may be, at the district-level and the state-level. It added that “the application and the reports thereon shall be made accessible simultaneously to the Central government on online portal”.

“The collector or the secretary, as the case may be, makes such inquiry as he considers necessary for ascertaining the suitability of the applicant and for that purpose forwards the application online to such agencies for verification and comments as may be required for completing such an inquiry,” the notification said, adding, “the instructions issued by the Central Government from time-to-time in this regard shall be strictly complied with by state or union territory and district concerned.”

It further provided that the comments of the agencies would be uploaded online by them and made accessible to the collector or the secretary, as the case may be, and the Central government.

On being “satisfied with the suitability of the applicant”, the notification said, the collector or the secretary will grant the citizenship of India by registration or naturalisation and issue a certificate of registration or naturalisation”.

The notification also lays down that the collector or the secretary would “maintain an online as well as physical register, in accordance with the said rules, containing the details of the person registered or naturalised as a citizen of India and furnish a copy thereof to the central government within seven days of such registration or naturalisation.”