Citizenship: acquisition, termination and allied laws - Constitutional Law I

Check the judgment before you rely on this. Every case cited here has been checked to exist — the citation resolves and names the right parties. The propositions attributed to each case have not been verified line by line against the judgment. Case names link through to the full judgment: read it before quoting a holding in an examination answer, and never carry a proposition from notes into court on trust.

Read the structure first. The Constitution does not contain a permanent law of citizenship. Articles 5 to 10 decide who was a citizen at the commencement of the Constitution; Article 11 hands the whole subject to Parliament, which enacted the Citizenship Act, 1955. Answers that mix the two up lose marks, so keep them separate.

1. Single citizenship

India follows the British model of a single citizenship, not the American model of dual citizenship of the Union and of a State. A person is a citizen of India and of nowhere else within India; there is no separate citizenship of Karnataka or of Kerala.

The reason is deliberate. The framers had just lived through Partition and were integrating princely States; a State-based citizenship would have licensed discrimination between Indians within India and worked against the fraternity the Preamble speaks of. Single citizenship is therefore usually listed among the salient features and among the unitary elements of the Constitution.

2. Articles 5 to 11: citizenship at commencement

These provisions operated once, on 26 January 1950, and are spent except as a starting point for tracing descent.

Article 5 — a person domiciled in India who was either born in India, or either of whose parents was born in India, or who had been ordinarily resident in India for not less than five years immediately before commencement.
Article 6 — rights of citizenship of persons who migrated to India from Pakistan, with different conditions depending on whether the migration was before or after 19 July 1948.
Article 7 — persons who migrated to Pakistan after 1 March 1947 are not citizens, subject to a proviso for those who returned under a permit for resettlement.
Article 8 — persons of Indian origin residing outside India who registered themselves as citizens with an Indian diplomatic mission.
Article 9 — a person who has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of a foreign State is not a citizen. This is the constitutional bar on dual citizenship.
Article 10 — continuance of the rights of citizenship, subject to any law made by Parliament.
Article 11 — Parliament may regulate the right of citizenship by law. This is the enabling provision, and it lets Parliament override Articles 5 to 10.

3. Acquisition under the Citizenship Act, 1955

Five modes. Learn them as a list, with the section numbers.

By birth (s.3). The rule has narrowed three times, and the dates matter. Born in India on or after 26 January 1950 but before 1 July 1987: a citizen, regardless of the parents' nationality. Born on or after 1 July 1987 but before 3 December 2004: a citizen if either parent was a citizen at the time of birth. Born on or after 3 December 2004: a citizen only if both parents are citizens, or one is a citizen and the other is not an illegal migrant at the time of birth.
By descent (s.4). A person born outside India, on the conditions and with the registration requirements the section lays down for each period.
By registration (s.5). For specified classes — persons of Indian origin ordinarily resident in India, persons married to citizens of India, minor children of citizens, and others named in the section.
By naturalisation (s.6). For a foreigner who satisfies the qualifications in the Third Schedule, including residence, good character and adequate knowledge of a language in the Eighth Schedule. The Central Government may waive the conditions for a person who has rendered distinguished service.
By incorporation of territory (s.7). Where a new territory becomes part of India, the Government specifies the persons who become citizens.

4. Termination

Three modes, under sections 8, 9 and 10.

Renunciation (s.8). A citizen of full age and capacity may make a declaration renouncing citizenship. Minor children lose it too, but may resume it on attaining majority.
Termination (s.9). Automatic, on voluntarily acquiring the citizenship of another country. This gives effect to Article 9. Note that it is voluntary acquisition: citizenship conferred without the person's volition does not attract the section.
Deprivation (s.10). A compulsory termination by order of the Central Government, available only against citizens by registration or naturalisation, on grounds such as fraud in obtaining citizenship, disloyalty, trading with an enemy in wartime, a sentence of imprisonment within five years of registration, or continuous residence abroad for seven years.

5. Overseas Citizen of India

Introduced by amendment in 2005, the OCI scheme is often misunderstood. An OCI cardholder is not a citizen. The card confers a lifelong visa and certain parity with non-resident Indians in economic and educational matters, but it carries no right to vote, no right to hold constitutional office, and no right to public employment. Article 9 still stands: India does not permit dual citizenship.

6. Rights that turn on citizenship

A point worth making in any answer, because it connects this topic to the rest of Part III. Some fundamental rights are available to all persons, citizen or not — Articles 14, 20, 21, 21-A, 22, 23, 24, 25 to 28. Others belong to citizens alone — Articles 15, 16, 19, 29 and 30. Citizenship is also a qualification for the offices of President, Vice-President, judge of the Supreme Court or a High Court, and for membership of Parliament and the State legislatures, and for the right to vote.

How this is examined

Usually as a short note — modes of acquisition, modes of loss, single citizenship, or the OCI. As a problem, occasionally: a person born on a given date to parents of a given status, asked whether they are a citizen. For those, the dates under section 3 do the work, so learn 1 July 1987 and 3 December 2004 precisely.

Two things to keep straight. First, do not present Articles 5 to 11 as the current law of citizenship — they settled the position in 1950 and Article 11 handed the subject to Parliament. Second, if you say India does not allow dual citizenship, add Article 9 and section 9 as authority, and mention that the OCI is not an exception to it.

Now go and read the questions themselves: Constitutional Law I past question papers.