Supreme Court Upholds Section 6A of Citizenship Act

General Studies Paper-2

Context: In a 4:1 majority verdict, the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955.

Background

• Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, confers citizenship to immigrants who entered Assam after January 1, 1966 but before March 24, 1971.
• The provision was inserted into the Act in furtherance of a Memorandum of Settlement called the “Assam Accord”.
• Under Section 6A, foreigners who had entered Assam before January 1, 1966, and been “ordinarily resident” in the State, would have all the rights and obligations of Indian citizens.

Concerns raised on the provision

• The cut-off date provides a different standard for citizenship for immigrants entering Assam than the rest of India (which is July 1948) and violates the right to equality (Article 14) of the Constitution.
• Also, the provision violates the rights of indigenous people from Assam under Article 29 by changing the demographics in the state.

Supreme Court ruling

• The Court opined that the mere presence of diverse ethnic groups within a state does not, in itself, constitute a violation of Article 29(1) of the Constitution (protection of interests of minorities).
• Section 6A is a statutory intervention that balances the humanitarian needs of migrants of Indian origin and the impact of such migration on economic and cultural needs of Indian states

Concluding remark

• The judgment underlined parliamentary supremacy over citizenship matters under Article 11 of the Constitution.

It also reinforced the Union government’s defense of amendments under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019, which is presently pending challenge in the Supreme court.