Citizenship Act, 1955

The Chakma refugees, who migrated from East Pakistan to Assam in 1964 and were later shifted to the North‑East Frontier Agency (now Arunachal Pradesh) in 1966, were allotted land under a government resettlement scheme but subsequently occupied land donated by a local Raja inside a protected inner‑line area. The State d…

Bhagwati Prasad Dixit challenged the election of Rajiv Gandhi to the Lok Sabha on three grounds: alleged loss of Indian citizenship due to marriage and property in Italy, holding an office of profit by receiving a parliamentary salary, and the ineligibility of the Chief Election Commissioner. The High Court dismissed t…

The petitioners, foreign missionaries who had been residing in India since the pre‑Independence era on periodically renewed residential permits, were ordered to leave the country in July 1987. They contended that, having been ordinarily resident for more than five years immediately before the commencement of the Consti…

The appellant was intercepted at New Delhi Railway Station with a loaded revolver and two passports – one Indian and one Pakistani – and was charged under Section 12 of the Passport Act, 1967 and Section 5 of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA). The Supreme Court held that Section 12(1)(a) r…

The respondent, an Iranian citizen married to an Indian national, applied for an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card but was denied because the authorities required her estranged husband to be present, either physically or virtually, for a personal interview. She challenged this requirement in the Delhi High Court, wh…

The case concerned Pranav Srinivasan, born in Singapore in 1999 to parents who had renounced Indian citizenship by acquiring Singapore citizenship in 1998. Pranav applied in 2017 for resumption of Indian citizenship under Section 8(2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, and the High Court held he was entitled to it, but the …

The Supreme Court examined writ petitions filed under Article 32 challenging the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, which was inserted to give effect to the Assam Accord. The petitioners, representing the people of Assam, argued that illegal migration from Bangladesh threatened the sove…

The case concerns the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, which grants citizenship to certain migrants from Bangladesh to Assam based on cut-off dates (before 1.1.1966 and between 1.1.1966 and 25.3.1971). The provision was enacted to implement the Assam Accord. Petitioners challenged it …

The Committee for Citizenship Rights of the Chakmas of Arunachal Pradesh filed a writ petition under Article 32 seeking a direction to the Union of India to grant Indian citizenship to Chakma and Hajong refugees who migrated between 1964 and 1969 and have since settled in Arunachal Pradesh. The State of Arunachal Prade…

The petitioners challenged a perceived conflict between sub‑paragraph (2) of paragraph 3 and paragraph 8 of the Schedule to the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, contending that persons declared illegal migrants or foreigners could still appeal and be included in t…

The appellant, K. Krishna M.A. RAIHANY, applied for Indian citizenship by naturalization under Section 6(1) of the Citizenship Act, 1955. He alleged that no order had been passed on his application, while the Union of India and the State of Maharashtra contended that a communication dated 29 August 2006 from the Under …

The Supreme Court examined the State Coordinator's report on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, specifically paragraphs 7(a), 7(b) and 7(c) which dealt with the exclusion or inclusion of descendants of Declared Voters (DV), Declared Foreigners (DF) and Persons Found to be Tribunals (PFT). The petitioners…

The Mizo Chief Council filed a writ petition under Article 32 on behalf of tribal chieftains alleging that the State had acquired their traditional lands without paying due compensation, violating their fundamental right to property. The petition was filed in 2014, more than six decades after the 1955 notification that…

The petitioners, old Indian settlers of Sikkim, challenged the definition of “Sikkimese” in Section 10(26AAA) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and the proviso that excluded a Sikkimese woman who married a non‑Sikkimese after 1 April 2008 from the tax exemption. They argued that the exclusion of settlers whose names were not…

The appellants Hari Shanker Jain and Hari Krishna Lal challenged the election of Sonia Gandhi to the Lok Sabha, alleging that she was not a citizen of India despite holding a certificate of citizenship under Section 5(1)(c) of the Citizenship Act, 1955. They also questioned the constitutional validity of the Citizenshi…

The Supreme Court examined a public‑interest writ petition challenging the constitutionality of the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983 (IMDT Act) and its 1984 Rules, which were applicable only to Assam for detecting and deporting illegal migrants. The Court held that the Act and Rules were ultra‑vi…

The appellant, Md. Rahim Ali, was declared a foreigner by the Foreigners Tribunal, Nalbari, on the basis that he failed to prove his Indian citizenship under Section 9 of the Foreigners Act, 1946. He challenged the Tribunal's order, arguing that the authorities had no material basis for the allegation of illegal migrat…

The National Human Rights Commission filed a writ petition under Article 32 on behalf of about 65,000 Chakma refugees settled in Arunachal Pradesh, alleging persecution, quit notices and threats of eviction by the All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union. The Chakmas had applied for Indian citizenship under Section 5(1)(a)…

The appellant, A. Raja, contested and won the Devikulam Assembly seat, a constituency reserved for Scheduled Castes, by filing a nomination stating he belonged to the Hindu Parayan caste, supported by a caste certificate. The respondent challenged the election, alleging that the appellant's paternal grandparents migrat…

The Supreme Court examined the Election Commission's directives that empowered district collectors and police to determine a person's citizenship and delete alleged foreign nationals from electoral rolls. Petitioners challenged the procedure, arguing that notices relied solely on police reports, limited the documents t…

Basudev Dutta, an Ophthalmic Assistant employed by the West Bengal Government since 1985, was terminated in 2011 after a police verification report, filed 25 years later, labeled him ‘unsuitable’ for the post. He challenged the termination, asserting Indian citizenship based on his father’s migration certificate and ar…

Squadron Leader Navtej Singh, an Indian Air Force officer, applied for permission to marry a Canadian immigrant in 2008 but contracted the marriage without waiting for the required approval. He was later invalidated from service on medical grounds in November 2009. After his retirement, he sought to have his wife and d…

The Supreme Court examined the validity of certificates issued by Gram Panchayat (GP) Secretaries, countersigned by revenue officials, for married women who migrated to other villages. These certificates were listed as supporting documents for claims of inclusion in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) under Section…

The petitioners filed writ petitions under Article 32 seeking a judicial definition of the phrase “originally inhabitants of the State of Assam” in Clause 3(3) of the Schedule to the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issues of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, and directions on how such persons should be id…

The petitioners challenged the Foreigners (Tribunal) Amendment Order, 2006 which made the 1964 Foreigners (Tribunals) Order inapplicable to Assam, arguing that it contravened Articles 14, 21 and 355 of the Constitution and sought to nullify the Supreme Court's earlier judgment in Sarbananda Sonowal v. Union of India (2…

The petitioners, who are Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) card‑holders, had been allowed since 2005 to appear for the All India Pre‑Medical Test (NEET) and compete for medical seats on parity with Non‑Resident Indians (NRIs) and Indian citizens. In March 2021 the Union of India issued a notification under Section 7B(1)…

Bhanwaroo Khan and his wife, who migrated to Pakistan after Partition and obtained Pakistani passports, entered India in 1955 on a visa, later failed to return and lived underground. In 1984 they applied for Indian citizenship, but the Government of India, invoking Section 9(2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and Rule 3 o…

The petitioner, an OCI card‑holder and U.S. national, applied for a postgraduate medical seat through the NEET (PG) exam and was initially treated as a foreign national, securing a high percentile and being allotted a pediatrics seat in AIIMS during the mock round. Shortly before the first counselling round, the author…