Supreme Court Orders Status Quo On Man's Plea That He Should Not Be Deported Till His Indian Citizenship Is Decided

The Supreme Court has issued notice on a petition filed by a man seeking a direction that he should not be deported to Pakistan until his claim to be an Indian citizen is decided as per Section 9(2) of the Citizenship Act.A bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice J. B. Pardiwala also issued status quo in the matter. Notice on the plea has been issued to the District Superintendent of Police(Godhra), State of Gujarat and the Ministry of Home Affairs, Union of India.According to the petition, the petitioner was born at Godhra, Gujarat in 1962 and had completed his education in India. In 1976 the petitioner moved to Pakistan but in 1983 he returned to India and got married at Godhra to an Indian woman on 2nd March 1984 and had three children from the wedlock. The petitioner again went away and finally returned to India in 1991 after obtaining all the requisite permits including a residential permit and continued to reside in India with his family.Out of fear of getting deported, the Petitioner moved a regular civil suit before the Court of Civil Judge praying to declare him a citizen of India under Section5(1)(C) of the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955 since he was married to an Indian citizen. He also prayed to restrict authorities from deporting him till his application under Section 9(2) of the Act is decided by the Union of India. In 1999, the Civil Judge held that Court did not have jurisdiction to decide the citizenship of the Petitioner. However, the Civil Judge partly allowed his decree to direct that he should not be deported back until his application under the Citizenship Act is decided.After a period of 4 years, the Union of India preferred a delayed appeal under Section 96 of CrPC against the order of the Civil Judge before the Principal District Judge. The District Judge set aside the decree passed by the Civil Judge on 12.07.2022.The petitioner, aggrieved by the order of the District Judge, moved the High Court of Gujarat. The High Court dismissed his appeal on 02.08.2022 holding that no substantial question of law arose.The petitioner, appearing through Senior Advocate IH Sayed, contended that the High Court disregarded the fact that the Petitioner has been rendered vulnerable to deportation and if he is not protected till his application is adjudicated upon it would be violation of the procedure established by law The petition was filed through Advocate Taruna Singh Gohil. Case Status : Akil Valibhai Piplodwala (Lokhandwala) vs District Superintendent of Police, Panchmahal, Godhra and Others - SLP(C) No. 16069/2022Click Here To Read/Download Order

Supreme Court Orders Status Quo On Man's Plea That He Should Not Be Deported Till His Indian Citizenship Is Decided

Deepankar Malviya

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