Guwahati: The Citizenship Act’s Section 6A was inserted by way of an amendment in 1985 to support the Assam Accord. The Supreme Court on Tuesday scheduled the appeals for hearing on January 10, 2023, according to ANI.
Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justices MR Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli, and Justice PS Narasimha made up a five-judge Constitution bench, and they ordered the attorneys in the case to divide the instances into several categories.
Senior attorney Kapil Sibal informed the bench right away that the parties had chosen to meet and decide which topics were to be divided and heard separately from one another.
On December 17, 2014, an issue involving citizenship in Assam was referred before the five-judge Constitution panel. The bench for hearing the case was assembled by the supreme court on April 19, 2017.
The National Register for Citizens (NRC), a list of Indian citizens with all the information required for their identity, was initially created following the 1951 national census.
The Assam NRC is designed to identify Bangladeshi immigrants who entered the State illegally after March 25, 1971.
The Assam Accord was discussed, drafted, and categories of immigration were established in 1985 by the Indian government and representatives of the Assam Movement.
The NRC exercise in Assam was conducted in accordance with Section 6A of the Citizenship Act of 1955 and the guidelines established by the Assam Accord of 1985.
The Assam Accord was implemented by the introduction of Section 6A of the Act. It offers a framework for either recognising Assamese migrants as Indian citizens or for expelling them based on the time of their migration.
According to the provision, Assamese people who arrived from certain countries, such as Bangladesh in 1985, on or after January 1, 1966, but before March 25, 1971, are required to register for citizenship under section 18 of the constitution. Because of this, the clause establishes March 25, 1971, as the deadline for awarding citizenship to Bangladeshi immigrants in Assam.
The State of Assam was ordered to update the NRC by the supreme court in 2013.
When the Assam NRC’s final draught was published on July 30, 2018, 40.07 lakh of the 3.29 crore applicants were left off the list, raising questions about their citizenship.