Fearing end of citizenship in India, UK prof moves Supreme Court

New Delhi, October 23

A London School of Economics (LSE) professor has moved the Supreme Court challenging the validity of certain provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955, that provide for automatic termination of Indian citizenship upon acquisition of citizenship of another country.

A Bench issued notice to the Centre earlier this month, asking it to spell out its stand on the contentious issue raised by Prof Tarunabh Khaitan.

The petitioner — whose wife is a British citizen — pointed out that Section 4(1) and Section 4(1)A of the Act required his future children to choose between their Indian citizenship by descent and their British citizenship by birth descent. Despite being eligible to apply for British citizenship since 2013, he has not applied for it as it would result in automatic termination of his Indian citizenship, the petitioner said, adding the ‘Overseas Citizen of India’ status that he would be eligible to get on termination of his citizenship was not comparable to benefits offered by citizenship.