'No relation with CAA': MHA clears air on citizenship notification for non-Muslim refugees

On Monday, the MHA clarified that its notification dated May 28 pertaining to citizenship for non-Muslim refugees had no relation with the Citizenship Amendment Act whatsoever. In a counter-affidavit filed by MHA Under Secretary Ashutosh Anand before the Supreme Court, it opposed the Indian Union Muslim League's plea to quash the notification. Arguing that the Citizenship Act, 1955 does not allow the classification of applicants on the basis of religion, the IUML alleged that this notification was an attempt to circumvent this assurance.

As per the notification under challenge, the MHA invited applications for citizenship from Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Christians and Buddhists hailing from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who are currently residing in 13 districts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Punjab. While the rules under the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, are yet to be framed, the Ministry invoked the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955. The IUML was also the first petitioner to challenge the CAA in the apex court.

Clarifying that the Centre has merely delegated its powers to grant citizenship to District Collectors, the MHA maintained that the notification applies only to foreigners who have entered the country legally. Delving into the different amendments to the Citizenship Act through the years, it revealed that similar delegation of power has been permitted by the Union government in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2016 and 2018 as well. Moreover, it pointed out that senior Congress leader and Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot had himself requested on multiple occasions that Collectors should be allowed to grant citizenship to minority migrants from Pakistan.

What is the CAA?

The CAA seeks to provide citizenship to the minority communities namely Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. This will be applicable to the members of these communities having arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014. Moreover, they shall not be considered illegal migrants. Additionally, the mandatory residence period for naturalised citizenship for these communities would be reduced to 5 years.

Several parties in the North East such as the (AASU) have been vehemently opposed to this legislation. To ameliorate their concerns of organizations such as the All Assam Students’ Union, the Centre has exempted a major part of the North East from the ambit of the Act. The opposition contended that the Act discriminates on the basis of religion, which might go against Article 14, which guarantees the right to equality.  After an hours-long debate in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the legislation was cleared by a majority of the members voting in the favour of the Centre in December 2019.