A 5-judge Constitution Bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justices Surya Kant, MM Sundresh, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra pronounced the verdict. The Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud while pronouncing the verdict said that there are three opinions and Justice JB Pardiwala has dissented, while Justice Suryakant has written for himself and others. The CJI has written his opinion.
CJI Chandrachud while holding that the cut off date of March 25,1971 was correct to grant the citizenship to migrants from Bangladesh said that the migration from east Pakistan into Assam was greater than total migration to India post independence and thus it satisfies the condition of rationale yardstick.
“Section 6A is neither under inclusive nor over inclusive,” CJI opined. He further added that the Assam Accord was a political solution to the problem of illegal migration and Section 6A was the legislative solution. And Parliament had the legislative competence to enact the provision.
CJI Chandrachud held that registration is not the de facto model to confer citizenship in India and Section 6A cannot be held to be unconstitutional only because it does not prescribe a process of registration.
“It is duty of the union to safeguard states against external aggression, reading duty of Article 355 as a right would place emergency rights with citizens and courts which would be catastrophic. Mere presence of different ethnic groups in a state does not mean infringement of Article 29(1)…Petitioner has to prove that one ethnic group is not able to protect their own language and culture just because of the presence of another ethnic group,” the CJI Chandrachud opined.
Justice Surya Kant while reading his opinion written for himself, Justice Manoj Misra and Justice MM Sundresh, said, “We have also upheld the constitutional validity of Section 6A. We have turned down objections on delay laches and judicial review. We cannot allow one to choose their neighbours and it runs against their principle of fraternity. The principle is to live and let live.”
The pleas against Section 6A primarily challenged provisions of the Assam Accord which formed the basis of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, published in 2019.
What Was Assam Accord?
The Section 6 A was inserted in 1985 following the Assam Accord, which was an agreement between the Rajiv Gandhi government and the leaders of the Assam movement who had protested for the removal of illegal migrants who entered Assam from Bangladesh. The accord signed with Assam student leaders in 1985, required amendment to Section 6 of the Citizenship Act following a prolonged agitation against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in the state.
According to clause 5 of the Assam Accord January 1, 1966, shall serve as the base cut-off date for the detection and deletion of “foreigners”. However, it also makes provisions for the regularisation of individuals who arrived in Assam after that date and up till March 24, 1971. The cut-off date of March 25, 1971 was the date when the Bangladesh liberation war ended.
Indigenous groups of Assam had challenged this provision, contending that it legalised illegal infiltration of foreign migrants from Bangladesh and wanted 1951 to be made as the cut-off date for inclusion in the National Register of Citizens instead of 1971.