Constitution Bench to hear challenge to Section 6A of Citizenship Act on October 17

A Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on Wednesday decided to hear from October 17 a series of petitions challenging the constitutionality of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955. Section 6A is a special provision inserted into the 1955 Act in furtherance of a Memorandum of Settlement called the ‘Assam Accord’ signed on August 15, 1985 by the then Rajiv Gandhi government with the leaders of the Assam Movement to preserve and protect the Assamese culture, heritage, linguistic and social identity. 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. On December 2014, the Supreme Court had framed 13 questions covering various issues raised against the constitutionality of Section 6A, including whether the provision diluted the “political rights of the citizens of the State of Assam”; whether it was a violation of the rights of the Assamese people to conserve their cultural rights; and whether an influx of illegal migrants in India constitute ‘external aggression’ and ‘internal disturbance’, among others.