The Delhi High Court on Friday instructed the Centre to present its position on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy’s petition, which seeks directions for the Ministry of Home Affairs to make a decision regarding Rahul Gandhi’s Indian citizenship.
The Central government’s proxy lawyer was asked orally to take instructions in the case by a bench consisting of Acting Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela.
“We want to have the assistance of the counsel from the state before we pass any order,” the bench said.
The court, initially inclined to issue a notice on the petition, was informed by the Centre’s proxy counsel that the lawyer previously representing the government in the matter had been appointed as a senior advocate.
He therefore requested additional time to engage a new counsel for the case. The bench then scheduled the matter for January 13, 2025.
Swamy’s petition, filed by advocate Satya Sabharwal, stated that on August 6, 2019, a letter was sent to the ministry alleging that Gandhi had ‘voluntarily disclosed’ to the British government that he was a citizen of British nationality, which would imply holding a British passport.
Therefore, Swamy said that the Congress politician would no longer be an Indian citizen since he had violated Article 9 of the Constitution, as read with the Indian Citizenship Act.
He stated that he had made several representations to the ministry requesting an update on the status of his complaint, but no action was taken, nor was he informed about it.
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