The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that the home ministry’s notification allowing 13 districts to accept, verify and approve citiz...
The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that the home ministry’s notification allowing 13 districts to accept, verify and approve citizenship applications from members of minority communities hailing from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh was not related to the Citizenship Amendment Act, reported Live Law.
In a gazette notification issued on May 28, the Union home ministry had said that “minority community” would include Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians, belonging to the three neighbouring countries, who are residing in 13 districts of Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab. Significantly, the notification was issued under existing provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955, as rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act have not been framed yet.
The Citizenship Amendment Act, passed in December 2019, provides citizenship to refugees from six minority religious communities, except Muslims, provided they have lived in India for six years, and entered the country by December 31, 2014. Across the country, protests had broken out against the law, which is seen as an assault on secular values inscribed in the Constitution.
On June 1, the Indian Union Muslim League had moved the Supreme Court against the notification. In its petition, the Indian Union Muslim League, or IUML, noted that the home ministry had told the Supreme Court not to stay the Citizenship...
