'Another Round Of Litigation': Allahabad HC Allows Withdrawal Of PIL Seeking Cancellation Of Rahul Gandhi's Citizenship

The Allahabad High Court today dismissed as withdrawn a fresh PIL plea moved by a BJP Member seeking the cancellation of Congress leader and LoP in LokSabha, Rahul Gandhi's citizenship. The plea also sought a ban on him travelling abroad during the pendency of his citizenship issue.During the course of the hearing, a bench of Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi and Justice Ajai Kumar Srivastava-I pointed out that the instant petition was 'another round of litigation' and that the petitioner had nothing new or relevant material to seek indulgence of the Court.Interestingly, this marks the third plea filed by petitioner S. Vignesh Shishir on the issue of Rahul Gandhi's citizenship, with the previous two having been disposed of without any effective relief. In fact, this PIL plea was filed four days after his second PIL plea (seeking a CBI investigation into Gandhi's citizenship) was disposed of by the HC.On May 5, the division bench, while disposing of his plea, granted liberty to Shishir to explore other legal remedies as the Centre informed it that it could not specify a timeline for making a decision on the matter.Today, the division bench was also of the view that since it had already given liberty to the petitioner to avail of other legal remedies to raise his grievances, there was no reason for the court to show indulgence."We can enter into this arena of dispute unless something legally sanctified is placed before us unless an admissible piece of evidence is placed before us...Remedy doesn't lie here. We don't have UOI's opinion before us"Before the bench, the petitioner-in-person, Vignesh, sought to argue that he had received correspondence from the UK Government that Gandhi's UK passport had been sent to the Union Home Ministry. Given this, he prayed before the bench to direct the Union Home Ministry to make Gandhi's UK Passport public. The bench, however, refused to pass any such order by observing that since Vignesh has already moved a representation to the Union Home Ministry regarding Gandhi's Citizenship, he should wait for their decision on this matter. "You have already approached the Centre regarding this issue. They have said it is a long procedure...You may avail other remedies if you come up with new material. We have given you much time, perhaps more than what was required."The bench also questioned as to who verified the passport and who had the issuing authority, and whether the sanctity of the passport had been tested. When the petitioner claimed that he had a video in which Gandhi could be seen holding some other country's passport, the bench said that the petitioner may file an RTI in this regard, and that the bench couldn't help the petitioner. The Court also sought to know from the petitioner if the Government had issued any notices to Gandhi on the basis of material placed by him, to which, Vignesh claimed that such a notice had indeed been issued.Against this backdrop, while allowing the withdrawal of the PIL plea with a liberty to file a review of this order, the bench said:"You are seeking our opinion on the same subject matter for which we have already disposed of a matter. You avail the liberty given in the previous issue."Background of the pleaThe PIL plea prays for a direction to the Union Of India to cancel Gandhi's Indian Passport since he is not a citizen of India and to register a criminal case against him as per provisions of section 12 of The Passports Act, 1967, for providing false information to obtain an Indian Passport. Shishir's plea also states that if Gandhi is not restrained from travelling outside India till the pendency of the petition, there is a high probability that he will abscond /flee and seek asylum in a foreign nation to evade the process of law in India. In his previous petition, Shishir had sought a direction to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), the Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh, and the Returning Officer of Raebareli to cancel Gandhi's electoral certificate. In that plea, he had also sought a CBI probe into his alleged British citizenship. Notably, he has also moved a detailed representation-cum complaint to the Foreigners Division, Ministry of Home Affairs, wherein a request has been made to cancel Gandhi's Indian citizenship. The representation has been moved as per Rules and Regulations of S. 9 (2) of the 1955 Act r/w Rule 40 (2) of the Citizenship Rules 2009 and Schedule III of the 2009 Rules. For context, Section 40 of the 2009 Rules deals with the Central Government's authority to determine whether, when, or how any citizen of India acquired the citizenship of another country. Vignesh had moved this representation following the dismissal of a similar PIL plea (filed by the same petitioner) that was withdrawn earlier, with a liberty to the petitioner to approach the competent authority under Section 9(2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, as far as it is permissible in law. His PIL plea also stated that he made detailed enquiries into the ...

'Another Round Of Litigation': Allahabad HC Allows Withdrawal Of PIL Seeking Cancellation Of Rahul Gandhi's Citizenship

Sparsh Upadhyay

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