May 28 Order of MHA faces SC challenge

• Union Home Ministry order of inviting citizenship applications faces Supreme Court challenge.
• A recent petition filed in the top court by Anis Ahmed, through advocate Selvin Raja, said the government order “utterly discriminates and deprives a class of persons namely, the Muslims”.
• He argued that the May 28 order does not withstand the test of Article 14.

• A May 28 order of the Ministry of Home Affairs inviting non-Muslim refugees such as Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists belonging to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan residing in 13 districts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, and Punjab to apply for Indian citizenship.

• The Citizenship (Amendment) Act(CAA), 2019 seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955.

• The Citizenship Act,1955 provides various ways in which citizenship may be acquired.

• It provides for citizenship by birth, descent, registration, naturalization, and by incorporation of the territory into India.

• The objective of the CAA is to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities — Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi, and Christian — from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.

• Those from these communities who had come to India till December 31, 2014, facing religious persecution in their respective countries, will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.
• The Act provides that the central government may cancel the registration of OCIs on certain grounds.

Exceptions:

• The Act does not apply to tribal areas of Tripura, Mizoram, Assam, and Meghalaya because of being included in the 6th Schedule of the Constitution.
• Also areas that fall under the Inner Limit notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873, will also be outside the Act’s purview.

Issues surrounding the law:

• It violates the basic tenets of the Constitution. Illegal immigrants are distinguished on the basis of religion.
• It is perceived to be a demographic threat to indigenous communities.
• It makes illegal migrants eligible for citizenship on the basis of religion, This may violate Article 14 of the Constitution which guarantees the right to equality.
• It attempts to naturalise the citizenship of illegal immigrants in the region.
• It allows cancellation of OCI registration for violation of any law.
• This is a wide ground that may cover a range of violations, including minor offenses.