Article 9:What You Need to Know

At the time of independence, people were given the option to choose their nationality between India and Pakistan. Thus, the situation demanded a strict provision that would define the nationality of an individual. Part-II of our Indian Constitution contains Article 5-11 which deals with the citizenship part.

Article 5-11 of the Indian Constitution lays down the principles governing citizenship in India. Citizenship is a very important concept in any democracy, and Article 9 lays down that our country does not provide for dual citizenship subject to certain conditions. It states if any citizen voluntarily acquires the citizenship of any other country shall not be considered as an Indian citizen.

What is the Constitutional provision for citizenship?

Article 5 of the Indian constitution states that during the time of commencement of the Indian constitution a person shall be a citizen of India when he/she was born in India or either of whose parents were born in India. Also, any person who stayed in India for more than 5 years at the time when the constitution came into existence.

Article 6:

This article granted rights to those citizens who were residents of India but went to Pakistan and again came back to India and became residents of India then. It states that a person who came to India after July 19, 1949, shall become a citizen only after registration.

Article 7:

It states the rights of citizenship for those who  after 1st March 1947 migrated to Pakistan but came back to India, such persons were granted citizenship after they had registered themselves.

Article 8:

This article grants citizenship to those who reside outside India but is of Indian origin. Any person who was born in India or either of his parents or grandparents were born in India can register themselves as an Indian citizen.

Article 9:

This article clearly states that if any Indian citizens voluntarily acquire the citizenship of any foreign country, they shall no longer be allowed to hold the citizenship of India.

Article 10:

This article says that any Indian citizen’s citizenship cannot be taken away unless any law is made by the Parliament.

Article 11:

This article gives power to the Parliament to make laws on citizenship as and when required.

Explanation of Article 9

Article 9 of the Indian constitution read as “Persons who willingly acquire citizenship of a foreign country are not citizens of that country. If a person has willingly gained the citizenship of any other state, he is not a citizen of India under Article 5 or is assumed to be a citizen of India under Article 6 or Article 8.

The clear meaning of the above Article means that any citizen of India who voluntarily took the citizenship of any foreign country shall not be considered as an Indian citizen. In such a case, explanation, as mentioned under Articles 5, 6, and 8, shall also not apply. This means that the citizenship of such a person shall be terminated.

In the landmark case of State of U.P v. Rehmatullah (1971), it was held by the court that the Central government has all the power to take action against the person who acquired the citizenship of any other country but still holds Indian citizenship.

The Citizenship Act, 1955

The Citizenship Act, of 1955 deals with the overall laws governing citizenship. The act was passed by the Parliament as per Article 11 of the constitution in the year 1955. It states the ways to acquire and renounce citizenship.

There are five ways to acquire citizenship as per the Citizenship Act, 1955. These are :-

– Citizenship by birth

– Citizenship by descent

– Citizenship by registration

– Citizenship by naturalization and

– Citizenship by incorporation of territory.

The Citizenship Act, of 1955 also deals with the termination of citizenship which is mentioned under Article 11(a) and (b). Citizenship can be terminated in 4 ways as per the act of 1955 and these include: –

– Citizenship may be renounced by a citizen of India.

– Citizenship may be terminated on the ground of fraud, misrepresentation or concealment of material facts.

– Citizenship may also be terminated if the holder has shown disloyalty to the Constitution of India by words, either spoken or written or by acts.

– Citizenship may be terminated if the citizen has been ordinarily resident out of India for seven years.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, it can be said that Article 5-11 of Part-II of the Indian constitution deals with the citizenship part, and Article 9 plays an important role for any person residing outside India. The person having Indian citizenship enjoys certain types of rights like the right to vote, the right to contest in an election, to hold any government post, and all fundamental rights. The Citizenship Rules, 1956 were made as per the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955. These rules deal with the various aspects of Citizenship such as the manner in which an application for registration or naturalization is to be made, the documents required to be furnished, etc.

So these were the basics of Citizenship in India which are governed by the Citizenship Act, 1955. Hope this article helped you in understanding the concept better. Stay tuned for more such informative articles. Till then, take care!