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Why archaic citizenship laws must go ANIL MALHOTRA

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prasad1

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A debate on the need to repeal obsolete laws has been set in motion in India with the government appointing a committee to look into the matter. Even our erstwhile coloniser, Great Britain, initiated the process of repealing 38 such laws last year, which were passed between the years 1849 and 1942, pertaining to the construction and maintenance of the Indian Railways. Meanwhile, our own post-independence efforts to weed out obsolete laws, through a process of spring cleaning, remain pending.


An area that requires immediate attention in this regard is conflicting laws regulating citizenship. Take for instance the colonial-era laws, The Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, The Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939, and The Foreigners Act, 1946. Even though Parliament has since enacted The Passports Act, 1967, The Citizenship Act, 1955, and created the Overseas Citizenship of India scheme in 2005, we continue to rely on these archaic pieces of legislation. Most of these laws enacted during colonial rule are redundant and do not stand the test of the principles of natural justice. They also confer unfettered, arbitrary and draconian powers on government authorities and need to be taken off the statute book.

Given the social circumstances today when emigration is common, international Indians qualify to be PIOs or OCIs. If they wish to reconnect with their homeland, they should not be categorised as foreigners by invoking the colonial provisions of the 1920 and 1946 Acts. The Citizenship Act, 1955, itself creates harmony. The retention of a foreign passport today cannot lead to deportation and summary removal from India. Why then do we need to retain the colonial enactments which were brought in to regulate the entry of foreigners into India in circumstances prevailing in 1946? This is a serious issue which must be addressed in Parliament.


Today, persons of Indian origin face problems due to marital disputes with spouses of foreign origin or nationality issues arising out of foreign domiciles. The desirable approach, therefore, would be to create appropriate forums or authorities within the legal system that would address such issues by granting opportunities for hearing and redressal. Accordingly, deportation or removal of a person to a foreign jurisdiction would be an abject surrender to a foreign dominion. Having resolved to be a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic Republic, we in India are capable and competent of adjudicating our nationality issues to provide redressal for persons of Indian origin. Our post-independence laws provide the solutions which our vibrant judiciary interprets to protect fundamental freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution. Hence, pre-independence laws in conflict with rights today must be revoked.
Why archaic citizenship laws must go - The Hindu
 
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