A Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on Wednesday decided to hear from October 17 a series of petitions challenging the constitutionality of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
Section 6A is a special provision inserted into the 1955 Act in furtherance of a Memorandum of Settlement called the ‘Assam Accord’ signed on August 15, 1985 by the then Rajiv Gandhi government with the leaders of the Assam Movement to preserve and protect the Assamese culture, heritage, linguistic and social identity. The Accord came at the end of a six-year-long agitation by the All Assam Students Union to identify and deport illegal immigrants, mostly from neighbouring Bangladesh, from the State.
The Union government insisted that Section 6A is valid and urged the court to dismiss the petitions, filed after nearly 40 years since the enactment of Section 6A.
