SC to start hearing on constitutional validity of Sec 6A of Citizenship Act

The Supreme Court will begin hearing on the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act of 1955 next month, the top court said on Tuesday, even as the Centre said accompanying issues pertaining to the challenge to National Register of Citizens (NRC) and setting up of foreigner tribunals in Assam should be separated, and taken up at a later date.

Section 6A created a special provision for Assam by which persons who entered between January 1, 1966, and March 25, 1971, and who are residing in the state, upon being detected as foreigners, will be allowed to register themselves. Upon registration, such a person will have the same rights and obligations as a citizen of India, but will not be entitled to be included in any electoral roll for a period of 10 years.

“We will first decide the issue of validity of Section 6A; whether it suffers from any constitutional infirmity,” a Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud said, setting the next date of hearing on February 14.

A note of issues to be decided by the court was prepared by attorney general R Venkatramani that was placed before the court along with suggestions from senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Dushyant Dave, among others, representing petitioner organisations and Muslim bodies such as Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, which have intervened in the proceedings.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta told the court that the note by Venkatramani categorised the bunch of 18 petitions listed before the five-judge bench under three heads. Of these, only four petitions raised a direct challenge to Section 6A, while the bulk of petitions were put under separate categories challenging NRC and foreigner tribunals in Assam, he added.

“The court need not go into the NRC validity and the foreigner tribunal is a completely different issue,” Mehta said. “The Category 1 cases pertaining to Section 6A can be taken up first, while the remaining cases can be staggered.”

The bench, also comprising justices MR Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha, granted three weeks to the Centre, the Assam government, and the petitioners to prepare their written submissions and appointed lawyers from the two sides to prepare a joint set of precedents, laws and relevant documents for the convenience of the court before February 14, the next date of hearing.

The Centre, which has defended Section 6A, chose to rely on the Assam Accord of 1985, which led to the introduction of Section 6A in the Citizenship Act, with effect from December 7, 1985. The accord was a tripartite agreement between the Centre, the Assam government and the All Assam Students Union, and came after years of protest against perceived demographic change and outsiders in the state.

The constitution bench will examine the question whether Section 6A is violative of right to equality (Article 14), right to life (Article 21) and minority rights (Article 29) of the Constitution, as it singles out Assam from other border states for having a separate cut-off date for regularising migrants who entered Assam, as opposed to other states.

The court also agreed to examine whether Section 6A which was a result of the Assam Accord could be judicially reviewed as the Accord was a political agreement seeking to provide a political resolution to a longstanding dispute.

Since the first challenge to Section 6A came 27 years after its enactment in 1985, the Centre questioned the delay as a ground to dismiss the petitions.

It was also agreed between the parties to consider what relief could be given to such persons who enjoyed citizenship benefits under Section 6A, particularly whether the children born to persons who migrated into India from specified territories (including East Pakistan) are entitled to citizenship.