Guwahati, 3rd December: The Supreme Court is set to commence hearings on December 5 to scrutinize the constitutional validity of section 6A of the Citizenship Act, specifically addressing illegal immigrants in Assam.
Section 6A was incorporated as a special provision in the Citizenship Act to address the citizenship status of individuals covered by the Assam Accord. This provision stipulates that individuals who arrived in Assam between January 1, 1966, and March 25, 1971, from specified territories, including Bangladesh, as per the Citizenship Act’s 1985 amendment, and have since been residing in Assam, must register for citizenship under section 18.
Effectively, the provision establishes March 25, 1971, as the cutoff date for granting citizenship to Bangladeshi migrants in Assam. The five-judge constitution bench, comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justices Surya Kant, M M Sundresh, J B Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, is slated to hear the matter on Tuesday, as indicated by the cause list on the apex court website.
In September, during a previous hearing, the court outlined that the proceeding’s title would be “In Re: Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955.” The bench emphasized that the contesting parties would consist of those challenging the constitutional validity of section 6A and those, including the Union of India and the State of Assam, supporting its validity.
Numerous petitions on this issue are pending in the apex court. The insertion of section 6A into the Citizenship Act, under the Assam Accord signed on August 15, 1985, aimed to detect and deport foreigners, granting citizenship to migrants in Assam.
A Guwahati-based NGO contested the constitutionality of section 6A in 2012, denouncing it as arbitrary, discriminatory, and unconstitutional, asserting that it establishes different dates for regularizing illegal migrants in Assam. In 2014, a two-judge bench referred the matter to the Constitution bench.
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