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Committee for C.R. of C.A.P. v. State of Arunachal Pradesh

Writ Petition (Civil) · Neutral citation not assigned (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 510 of 2007)Decided 17 Sept 2015
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 510 of 2007
Justice Anil R. Dave · Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel

Background

Chakma and Hajong tribals, displaced from what is now Bangladesh, were settled by the Government of India in Arunachal Pradesh between 1964 and 1969. Decades later, a committee representing them filed this writ petition under Article 32 seeking a direction to the Union of India to grant them Indian citizenship, relying on an earlier Supreme Court decision (National Human Rights Commission vs. State of Arunachal Pradesh, 1996) which had already recognized their right to apply for citizenship and directed protection of their life and liberty against local groups threatening to forcibly evict them. Despite this, thousands of their citizenship applications remained stuck, largely because local district officials in Arunachal Pradesh were not forwarding them to the Central Government as required.

Decision Breakdown

The Court traced the long history of the matter, including repeated orders over several years directing the State to account for thousands of pending applications, and noted that a High Powered Committee set up by the Union Government in 2010 had still not resolved the issue. It reaffirmed that the Chakmas and Hajongs, having been settled in India as a matter of deliberate government policy and having lived there for decades (with many born in India), could not be treated as illegal migrants and were entitled to have their citizenship applications processed under Section 5 of the Citizenship Act without needing special permits like the Inner Line Pass. The Court allowed the writ petition and directed the Government of India and the State of Arunachal Pradesh to finalise the conferment of citizenship on eligible Chakmas and Hajongs, and to protect their life, liberty and non-discrimination, preferably within three months.

Lesson Learnt

Once the government has made a deliberate policy decision to settle and eventually grant citizenship to a group of people, bureaucratic inaction or delay by local officials in forwarding applications cannot be allowed to indefinitely deny them a right that has already been judicially and administratively recognized.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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