NEW DELHI, April 22 - The Supreme Court on Monday set aside a petition filed by Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha declining to give a fresh date for hearing of their case on fixing a cut-off date for awarding citizenship to Bangladeshi immigrants in Assam.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi and comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna during a brief hearing said that this is not the right time to hear the case, declining to give a fresh date.
On February 5 last year, a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud had said it would set up a fresh constitution bench to examine the validity of various aspects of a provision of the Citizenship Act, 1955, including the cut-off date for awarding citizenship to Bangladeshi immigrants in Assam.
Earlier, a five-judge bench of the apex court in April 2017 had said it would deal with 13 questions related to the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Act, which were referred to it for consideration by a two-judge bench in December 2014.
Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955 relates to special provisions for citizenship of people covered by the Assam Accord, which was a memorandum of settlement signed between representatives of the Centre and the leaders of Assam movement in August 1985.
In December 2014, a two-judge bench of the apex court headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi had framed 13 questions, for deliberation by a larger bench, which included as to whether Section 6A violates the Articles of the Constitution by diluting the political rights of citizens of Assam.
The court�s December 2014 verdict had come on the pleas of Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha, Assam Public Works and All Assam Ahom Association filed in the aftermath of large- scale riots in 2012 and 2014 resulting in the death of a large number of people.
In their writ petition, the petitioners had said the sovereignty and integrity of India is itself at stake as a massive influx of illegal immigrants from a neighbouring country has affected the core constitutional value.
Meanwhile, All Assam Students Union adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya said they have full faith and trust in the Supreme Court. �We want that the burning problems of Assam should be solved within the ambit of the Assam Accord,� he said. �If it (Assam Accord) is implemented in letter and spirit, then these problems will be resolved,� he added.
