NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider the plea of an NGO seeking addition of names of persons belonging to persecuted minorities like Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains in neighbouring countries in the voter lists pending their application seeking Indian citizenship.After a brief submission by senior advocate Karuna Nundy for NGO ‘Aatmadeep’, a bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi posted the matter for hearing on Dec 9 along with petitions which have challenged the special intensive revision of Bengal voter list.The petitioner said there are approximately 50,000 such applicants, who had entered India on or before Dec 31, 2014, and are entitled to get protection and citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019.Quoting Sec 6B of the CAA, the NGO said many of these persons have submitted applications for grant of certificate of registration but have not been given such certificates. “Delay in issuance of citizenship certificates, coupled with the non-recognition of acknowledgment receipts during the ongoing SIR, has created a serious constitutional crisis. The affected persons, already recognised by Parliament as persecuted minorities of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who entered India deserving protection and integration, are now exposed to the risk of statelessness, social exclusion, and disenfranchisement,” it said. “The acknowledgment receipt generated upon online submission serves as the primary and official proof of an application under the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024. In absence of final disposal within a fixed period, such receipts must be treated as valid provisional proof of pending citizenship determination, at least for limited civil purposes such as inclusion or retention in the electoral rolls during SIR,” it said.
