New Delhi, Aug 15. (UNI): The Supreme Court on
Monday issued a notice to the Centre on a
petition challenging the Government order dated
August 19, 2002 denying citizenship rights to a
Person of Indian Origin (PIO) who took the
citizenship of either Pakistan or Bangladesh
after January 26, 1950 when the Constitution of
India came into being.
The petitioner K N A Farooqi who was born in
Lucknow in 1934 and took an intermediate degree
from Lucknow college in 1952 and left for
Chittagong in November 1952 after the abolition
of the Zamindari system in India and later
shifted to Karachi in 1971 after the formation of
Bangladesh has contended that the impugned
Government order was discriminatory in nature and
violated Article 14 of the Constitution of India.
The petitioner who came to India on June 20, 2005
on a Pakistani passport has sought Indian
citizenship under the category of Overseas
Citizenship of India (OIC) commonly known as dual
citizenship, which can be granted to any foreign
citizen who is a PIO, except the citizen of
Pakistan and Bangladesh, as per the order dated
December 2,2005 passed by the Government of India.
PIO who was the citizen of India on January
26,1950 or became a citizen of any part, which
became part of India after August 15,1947 are
entitled for Overseas Indian Citizenship.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal
and Justices C K Thakker and Markandey Katju
issued notices after hearing the counsel for the
petitioner who contended that the impugned order
debarring citizens of Pakistan and Bangladesh the
dual citizenship rights, who are PIOs was illegal
and unconstitutional and hence must be quashed.
The petitioner has also pleaded that he married a
girl from Lucknow in 1966 who also shifted to
Chittagong.