Allahabad HC Gives 4 Weeks To Centre To Decide On Rahul Gandhi's Citizenship
The Lucknow bench of the High Court, comprising Justice AR Masoodi and Justice Ajay Kumar Srivastava, was hearing a petition filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.
The Allahabad High Court on Monday granted the Centre four weeks’ time to decide on the issue of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s citizenship.
The Lucknow bench of the High Court, comprising Justice AR Masoodi and Justice Ajay Kumar Srivastava, was hearing a petition filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, alleging that Rahul Gandhi had declared himself a British citizen in documents submitted to British authorities, reported India Today.
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The Centre had sought eight weeks to file the status report. The court has set April 21 as the next date of hearing.
Swamy’s plea 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, amounting 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 of having 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 November last year, Centre had informed the High Court that a petition alleging dual citizenship being held by the Rae Bareli MP was being looked into.
The Centre’s submission came while the court heard a plea filed by advocate and BJP leader Vignesh Shishir, who also sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into Gandhi’s citizenship.
He claimed to have confidential e-mails to support his claim. “We have direct communication from the UK government that Mr Gandhi is in their citizenship records," he told NDTV.
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