NEW DELHI, July 23 - The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that those persons, who are born on or after December 3, 2004, will not be included in the NRC if any of the parents is a doubtful voter (DV) or declared foreigner (DF), or whose cases are pending at foreigners tribunal (PFT), even if the parent from whom legacy is drawn is clear from all angles.
For any NRC claimant, if legacy person through whom eligibility is sought to be established is a DV or DF, or PFT, then such persons will not be included in the NRC irrespective of the status of the other parent.
Referring to clarifications sought by petitioners, a bench headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman today said considering the Supreme Court�s order dated July 2, 2018 and provisions contained in Section 3(1)(b) and (c) of Citizenship Act, 1955, the best course of action is for those born before December 3, 2004, if the parent through whom legacy is drawn is not DV or DF or PFT, and is found eligible for inclusion in the NRC, but the other parent from whom legacy is not drawn is a DV or DF or PFT, then, such descendants may be included in the NRC.
The Supreme Court on July 2, 2018 ordered that those persons who are DVs or PFTs as well as their descendants are not to be included in the updated NRC. As descendance can be drawn from either of the parents, clarification appears to be required in cases where one of the parents is clear from all angles, while the other parent is a DV or DF, or PFT, the court had observed.
It also appears that while deciding eligibility of descendants, provisions of Section 3(1)(b) & (c) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 may be important to be taken into account, though citizenship purely by birth and not by descendance is not eligible for inclusion in the NRC.
It is felt that the substance of Section 3(1)(b) & (c) is that while determining citizenship of any descendant born up to December 3, 2004, citizenship eligibility of any one of the parents suffices, while for those descendants born on or after December 3, 2004, citizenship eligibility of both the parents needs to be taken into account, the Supreme Court ruled.
The court also directed the State NRC Coordinator to issue a public notice in this regard to enable other stakeholders, in a representative capacity, to appear before the court, if so desired. �The prayers will be heard on August 7 when this bench will assemble again,� the court said.
