A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed the order after the counsel appearing for the Assam government sought time to file counter-affidavits in the five petitions
Justice Bagchi noted that the Supreme Court’s Bihar SIR judgment established that the ECI cannot decide citizenship for voting rights and must refer such matters to the Ministry under the Citizenship Act
The case arose out of proceedings before the Foreigners Tribunals in the State of Assam and, in certain cases, before the erstwhile Illegal Migrants (Determination) Tribunals
Ministry of Home Affairs amends order, empowers district magistrates.
Conclave on ‘One-Nation One-Election, Federalism and Citizenship’ also raises concern on SIR, citizenship and ECI functioning