NEW DELHI, April 19 - The Supreme Court has constituted a Constitution Bench to hear Section 6 A of the Citizenship Act. The hearing is now scheduled to take place from May 11 to 19.
The Constitutional Bench will be presided over by Justice Madan B Lokur, Justice RK Agarwal, Justice Prafulla C Pant, Justice DY Chandra Chud and Justice Ashok Bhushan.
The Bench today met to ascertain the time-frame needed for the hearing. All parties were directed to make their submissions by May 1. A preliminary hearing is scheduled to take place on May 8 when the petitions will be reviewed.
The Bench wanted to ascertain whether the hearing could conclude the hearing within seven days. However, the counsels for the petitioners and those representing the Union Government and the State said they needed time to conclude their submissions. If the hearing is not concluded within seven days, it is likely to take place in July, Assam Government counsel Shuvodeep Roy told this newspaper.
A total of seven petitions are likely to be clubbed together. Some of the petitioners include Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha, All Assam Ahom Association, Dr Deepak Nath, Asam Sahitya Sabha and Purbanchal Hindusthani Sanmelan among others.
On December 17 last, the Supreme Court referred Clause 6A of the Citizenship Act to the Constitution Bench. A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice
Ranjan Gogoi and Justice RF Nariman today passed a 70-page judgement concerning a bunch of writ petitions filed under Article 32 of the Constitution by the Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha, All Assam Ahom Association and others relating to the issue of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Assam.
Meanwhile, All Assam Students Union adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya said that all solutions must be according to the provisions of the Assam Accord and the Government of India and the Government of Assam should take steps to implement the Accord.
