Section 6A of the Citizenship Act 1955

Section 6A of the Citizenship Act 1955

Subject : Polity

• Recently, A Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said it will first take up for preliminary determination whether Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955 suffers from any “constitutional infirmity”.

Section 6A

• Section 6A was a special provision inserted into the 1955 Act in furtherance of a Memorandum of Settlement called the ‘Assam Accord’ signed on August 15, 1985.
• It created a special provision for Assam by which persons who entered between January 1, 1966, and March 25, 1971, and who are residing in the state, upon being detected as foreigners, will be allowed to register
• Upon registration, such a person will have the same rights and obligations as a citizen of India, but will not be entitled to be included in any electoral roll for a period of 10 years.
• 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 including the right to vote.

Assam Accord

• The Assam Accord was a Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) signed between representatives of the Government of India, Assam Government and the leaders of the Assam Movement in New Delhi on 15 August 1985.
• Six year agitation demanding identification and deportation of illegal immigrants was launched by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) in 1979 concluded with the signing of the Assam Accord.
• In the 15 clauses of the Assam Accord, the key focus areas were:
• Foreigners issue
• Economic development
• Restricting acquisition of immovable property by foreigners
• Prevention encroachment of government lands
• Registration of births and deaths
• This was done to ensure protection of political, social, economic and cultural identity of the local people.
• The foreigners were classified under three heads for identification and differential treatment under Clause 5 of the Assam Accord.
• “All persons who came to Assam prior to 1.1.1966, including those amongst them whose name appeared on the electoral rolls used in 1967 elections, shall be regularised.
• “Foreigners, who came to Assam after 1.1.1966 (inclusive) and upto 24th March, 1971 shall be detected in accordance with the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 and the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order 1964 and were to be disenfranchised. This group of people was required to register themselves as foreigners in accordance the Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939. The Assam Accord does not call for their deportation but they were to get voting rights only after expiry of 10 years from the date of their detection or declaration as foreigner.
• The rest had to be expelled.