'Government should get leeway on important decisions to save the country' SC's comment in the Citizenship Act case

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that many states of the North-East are affected by extremism and violence and the government should be given freedom and liberty to make necessary changes to save the country. Referring to Section 6A of the Citizenship Act applicable in Assam, a five-member Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said that the government has to make some compromises for the overall welfare of the country. He said, 'We will also have to give some leeway to the government.

Even today there are some parts of the Northeast, that we cannot name, but there are states which are affected by insurgency and violence. We have to give enough freedom to the government so that it can make necessary changes to save the country.

He made this comment when senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the petitioners, said that Section 6A applies uniformly and benefits infiltrators who have been living in Assam in violation of the citizenship law. The Constitution Bench is hearing 17 petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act related to infiltrators in Assam.

Section 6A was added to the Citizenship Act as a special provision to deal with the citizenship of people covered under the Assam Accord. According to this, people who came to Assam from specified areas including Bangladesh after January 1, 1966, and before March 25, 1971, and have been living there since then will have to register themselves to acquire Indian citizenship under Section 18. While demanding to declare this provision illegal, Diwan on Tuesday had also demanded to direct the Center to take action against the States and Union Territories to settle and rehabilitate all the people of Indian origin who came to Assam after January 6, 1951. Prepare a policy in consultation with the state.

The bench questioned whether Parliament could allow the conflict to continue in Assam because the law would discriminate between states. In 1985, the situation in Assam was such that a lot of violence was taking place there. Whatever solution he found would surely be perfect. In the beginning, Diwan said that infiltrators from Assam need to be dealt with under Section 3 of the Foreigners Act. He said that the existence of Section 6A even today helps people to come to Assam illegally and claim citizenship.

It is unacceptable to separate Assam from a homogeneous single class Senior advocate Diwan said, that Assam and the neighbouring states form a homogeneous single class and it is unacceptable to separate Assam from them. A political settlement made after any violent or political movement is not a basis for classification. He said, granting regularization approval to a large number of infiltrators without any time limit weakens the economic, social and political aspirations of the people of Assam.