New Delhi: The Delhi High Court was informed by the Centre on Wednesday that the issue over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Indian citizenship was under consideration with the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Noting the submission of the counsel for the Central government, a bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Tushar Rao Gedela posted the matter on May 28.
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had sought directions to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to decide over Gandhi’s citizenship.
“The matter is under consideration,” Additional solicitor general Chetan Sharma said.
The bench was also informed that the Allahabad High Court, which was seized of a similar case, had recently granted four weeks time to the ministry to apprise it about the outcome of the proceedings.
When Swamy urged the court to direct Gandhi to file his response to a letter issued to him by the MHA, the bench said it couldn’t control the action of the ministry.
“We can’t compel. The proceedings are before the ministry. It is for the ministry to take a decision. We can’t control the actions of the ministry and cannot issue any direction to any person who is party to the proceedings before the ministry,” it said.
On February 19, the Delhi High Court asked the Centre to apprise it of the status of Swamy’s representation given to the MHA to decide over Gandhi’s Indian citizenship.
Swamy’s plea, filed by advocate Satya Sabharwal, said on August 6, 2019, a letter was sent to the ministry alleging Gandhi had “voluntarily disclosed” to the British government that he was a citizen of British nationality, which amounted to holding a British passport.
Swamy, therefore, said the Congress leader, being an Indian citizen, had violated Article 9 of the Constitution, read with the Indian Citizenship Act, and would cease to be an Indian citizen.
He claimed to have made several representations to the ministry inquiring about the status of his complaint but neither was any action taken nor was he intimated about it.
In the MHA’s April 2019 letter to Gandhi, he was informed about Swamy’s representation over his citizenship and he was reportedly asked to intimate the factual position in the matter within a fortnight of receipt of the communication.
On Wednesday, BJP worker from Karnataka S Vignesh Shishir, moved the Allahabad High Court over Gandhi’s citizenship, updated the bench with the developments in his petition.
Shishir was permitted by the Delhi High Court to file an impleadment application and an affidavit mentioning the developments that took place following his PIL filed in the Allahabad High Court.
While Swamy has maintained that the matter pending in the Allahabad High Court was unrelated to his case as the prayers were totally different, Shishir claimed his plea had led to multiplicity and parallel proceedings.
