The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that it will commence hearing on 17 October to review the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act pertaining to illegal immigrants in Assam. Section 6A was included in the Citizenship Act as a special provision to address the citizenship of individuals covered by the Assam Accord.
This provision stipulates that those who arrived in Assam on or after 1 January 1966, but before 25 March 1971, from specified territories, including Bangladesh, as per the amended Citizenship Act of 1985, and have been residing in Assam since then, must register themselves under Section 18 to seek citizenship. Consequently, 25 March 1971, serves as the cut-off date for granting citizenship to Bangladeshi migrants in Assam.
A Constitution bench comprising five judges, headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, acknowledged that the counsels for the parties concerned have prepared a common compilation in the matter. However, they noted that the common compilation needs to be streamlined.
The bench stated, “A common index shall be prepared. The soft copy of the common compilation shall be prepared by October. Written submissions shall be filed by 10 October.” The title of the proceedings in the top court shall be “In Re: Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955.”
On 13 December, the Supreme Court had instructed the contesting parties’ counsel to determine the issues for adjudication in a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act concerning illegal immigrants in Assam. The bench had directed the parties to segregate the cases into distinct categories and determine the order in which arguments would be presented.
The Constitution bench had also directed the apex court registry to provide scanned soft copies of the complete set of pleadings filed on the issue. In all, there are 17 petitions pending on this matter in the Supreme Court, including one filed by Assam Public Works in 2009.
Section 6A was introduced into the Citizenship Act as part of the Assam Accord, signed by the All Assam Students Union, the Assam government, and the Government of India on 15 August 1985, with the aim of detecting and deporting foreigners. In 2012, a Guwahati-based NGO challenged Section 6A, describing it as arbitrary, discriminatory, and unconstitutional, claiming it provides different dates for regularizing illegal migrants in Assam. In 2014, a two-judge bench referred the matter to the Constitution bench.