SC bench to hear pleas against Section 6A from February 14

GUWAHATI: The Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Tuesday said it will start hearings on a batch of petitions challenging the validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, which provides a separate set of cut-off dates for granting citizenship in Assam, from February 14.
“Presently, the following issue as framed for primary determination for the Constitution Bench, whether section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, suffers from any constitutional infirmity,” CJI Chandrachud, who presided over the five-judge Constitution Bench, said.
The bench comprising Justices MR Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha, said it will take up this matter once it completes hearing the petitions relating to the split in the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.
Section 6A deals with “special provisions as to the citizenship of persons covered by the Assam Accord”. It says all those who came to Assam on or after January 1, 1966, but before March 25, 1971, from the specified territory (it includes all territories of Bangladesh at the time of commencement of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1985), and since then are residents of Assam, must register themselves under Section 18 for citizenship and they all not have right to vote for 10 years.
“The Constitution Bench heard preliminary arguments and framed the issues and directed all parties to file a short report on the matters of the case again within three weeks. The order issued that the next hearing will be held on February 14,” KN Choudhury, counsel for petitioner Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha, told the media after the court proceedings.
Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha first filed a writ petition in 2012 in the Supreme Court, challenging Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, saying that it violates the sections 5,6,14,21,29,355 of the Constitution.
Under the leadership of Rahman, three more petitions were filed later in 2014, 2015 and in 2016, which are also being herad. Section 6A of the Citizenship Act provides special provisions as to the citizenship of persons covered by the Assam Accord signed in 1985 between the Centre, state and Aasu in Assam.