Assam: Supreme Court to hear petitions on Citizenship Act on December 5

Guwahati: The Supreme Court on December 5 will be hearing a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955 in Assam.

The petitions against Section 6A primarily challenge provisions of the Assam Accord which formed the basis of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, published in 2019.

Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta appearing for the Centre requested the top court to defer the hearing in the case that was to be taken up by a constitutional bench on November 7.

The SG mentioned before the court that both he and Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioners, had just concluded pleading in another constitutional matter and needed more time to prepare for this case.

CJI DY Chandrachud acknowledged the difficulty in assembling a constitutional bench and said that the request would require rearranging the entire roster.

However, SG Mehta persisted in his request, and the court eventually decided to keep the hearing on December 5.

In September, a five-judge Constitution Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud passed procedural directions in the batch of petitions challenging Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955.

In January, the top court observed that the primary question in the case was “whether Section 6A of the Citizenship Act 1955 suffers from any constitutional infirmity.”

Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955 was enacted in 1985 following the Assam Accord and provides that all persons of Indian origin who came to Assam before January 1, 1966 and have been ordinarily resident in Assam since then shall be deemed to be citizens of India.

The provision also makes March 24, 1971 the cut-off date for entry into the state, making those people who entered the state after that date “illegal immigrants”.

The petitioners challenging Section 6A argue that the provision is discriminatory and violates the fundamental rights of the people of Assam.

They want 1951 to be made as the cut-off date for inclusion in the National Register of Citizens instead of 1971.