Citizenship - (Art.

5 to 11)

Contents
I. Introduction
II. What is citizenship?
III. Why Citizenship is necessary/ Purpose of Citizenship
IV. Constitutional Provisions
V. Who were the persons / who were deemed to be citizens of India when the
constitution was promulgated?
VI. The Citizenship Act, 1955
VII. Ways for Acquisition of Citizenship
VIII. Termination of Citizenship
IX. Citizenship Amendment Act, 2003
X. What is NPR (National Population Register)?
XI. Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI)
XII. OCI : Conferment of Rights
XIII. Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD)
XIV. Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019
XV. A Company or corporation whether citizen under Article 19?
A. Juristic person is not a citizen
B. Juristic person is a citizen for enjoyment of certain fundamental rights
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I. Introduction
Citizenship signifies the relationship between individual and state. A citizenship is a
legal status acquired by a person in State through which he/she can have a whole set of
rights that non-citizens might not have.
Like, any other modern nations India also provided citizenship to its subjects. Though
India is Federation having two levels of government, there is only single citizenship Viz.,
the Indian citizenship and no separate State citizenship provided. The Indian Constitution
has provided partial provisions regarding Citizenship, means the constitution of India says
who are citizens of the nation at the commencement of the constitution (26 th Jan 1950), but
for the question after that who will be the citizens of nation? Constitution is silent and it
has provided that this question will be answered by “Parliament of India” (as per Art.11 of
the Indian constitution). Thus, it is clear that constitution of India contains neither any
permanent nor any elaborate provisions in this regard. So, regarding concept of Citizenship
one has to take aid from Part II of the Indian constitution as well as the “Citizenship
Act, 1955”.

II. What is citizenship?

 The word citizenship derived from the Latin word for ‘city’, because in the earlier
days of human governments, people identified themselves as belonging to cities more than
countries. However, present ‘citizen’ word comes from an Anglo-French word ‘citisein’
which means city dweller or inhabitant of a city or town.
The population of a state is divided into two categories: citizens and non-citizens.
 Citizenship signifies the relationship between individual and state.
 Like any other modern state, India has two kinds of people—citizens and
aliens. Citizens are full members of the Indian State and owe allegiance to it. They
enjoy all civil and political rights. (Persons are two types Natural and Artificial/ Juristic
person. Natural person again divided in to two Citizens and Non citizens or Aliens)
 Aliens on the other hand, are the citizens of some other state and hence, do not
enjoy all the civil and political rights. They are again of two categories
i. Friendly aliens : these are the subjects of those countries that have cordial relation
with India and can enjoy some better rights.
ii. Enemy aliens : these are the subjects of that country that is at war with India. They
enjoy lesser rights than the friendly aliens, eg. They do not enjoy protection against arrest
and detention (Art. 22) etc.
 Citizenship is an idea of exclusion as it excludes non-citizens.
 There are two well-known principles for the grant of citizenship:
While ‘jus soli’ confers citizenship on the basis of place of birth, ‘jus sanguinis’ gives
recognition to blood ties.
 From the time of the Motilal Nehru Committee (1928), the Indian leadership was
in favour of the enlightened concept of jus soli.
 The racial idea of jus sanguinis was also rejected by the Constituent
Assembly as it was against the Indian ethos.
 The current Indian nationality law largely follows the jus sanguinis (citizenship by
descent) and the jus soli (citizenship by right of birth within the territory)
 Framers of the Indian constitution clearly by using the words ‘Citizen’ and
‘Person’ in respective Articles declared which are applicable to citizens and which are to
persons (citizen and noncitizen)
Ex: Article 14 : The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal
protection of the laws within the territory of India.
Article 15 (1) : The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of
religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.
 A citizen of a state enjoys all civil and political rights. A non-citizen, on the
other hand, doesn’t enjoy all these rights.

III. Why Citizenship is necessary/ Purpose of Citizenship

 Under the Indian constitution, certain fundamental rights and fundamental
duties are available only to the citizens, namely:
i) Right against discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place
of birth (Article 15);
ii) Right to equality of opportunity in matter of public employment (Article 16);

iii) Freedom of speech and expression, assembly, association, movement, residence

and profession (Article 19);
iv) Cultural and educational rights (Article 29 and 30); and

v) Right to vote and become members of the union and state legislatures (Article
326).
vi) Fundamental duties under Article 51A applicable only to citizens
51A. Fundamental duties It shall be the duty of every citizen of India…..

 There are certain offices occupied exclusively by citizens:

Ex: President (Article 58(1)(a), vice-president (Article 66(2)), judges of the Supreme
Court (Article 124(3)) and high court (Article 217(2)), governor of a state (Article 157),
attorney general (Article 76(1)) and advocate general (Article 165).
 However, Equality before the law or equal protection of the laws within the
territory of India (Article 14 ), 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 32 are
applicable to non-citizens as well.
IV. Constitutional Provisions
The Constitution does not lay down a permanent or comprehensive provisions relating to
citizenship in India. Part II (Art. 5 to 11) of the Constitution simply describes classes of
persons, who would be deemed to be the citizens of India at the commencement of the
Constitution, the 26th January, 1950 and leaves the entire law of the citizenship to be
regulated by law made by Parliament. For this purpose, Article 11 expressly confers power
on parliament to make laws to provide for such matters.

V. Who were the persons / who were deemed to be citizens of India when the
constitution was promulgated?
There are four categories of persons, identified between Articles 5 and 8 of the
constitution, who were deemed eligible to become citizens of India when the
constitution came into effect.
A) Citizenship by domicile (Article 5):
At the commencement of this Constitution, every person who has his domicile in the
territory of India and –
(a) Who was born in the territory of India; or
(b) Either of whose parents was born in the territory of India; or
(c) Who has been ordinarily resident in the territory of India for not less than five years
immediately preceding such commencement, shall be a citizen of India.
Domicile of a person is in that country in which the person either has or is deemed by
law to have his/her permanent house.
DP Joshi v State of Madhya Bharat (AIR 1955 SC 334)1
Dr. Pradeep Jaom etc v. UOI (1984 AIR 1420)2

1
Issue Involved:
 Whether the rule regarding the domicile of the candidate infringed the Fundamental Rights
guaranteed by Articles 14 and 15(1) of the Indian Constitution?
 It was held by the Court in majority that the above mentioned rule was not violation of the
Fundamental rights enshrined under Article 15(1) of Indian Constitution. The court held by majority that
“Place of Birth” and “Place of Residence” are two different and distinct things both in facts and law and the
imposition of capitation fees was based on “Place of Residence” rather than “Place of birth” and Article
15(1) of Indian Constitution deals with discrimination based on “Place of birth” and it can’t be read as
“Place of residence”.
2
The Supreme Court recognized that in India Article 5 recognizes the only domicile, viz., the domicile of
India. It does not recognize the notion of State domicile.
In both the cases the Supreme Court held that there is no State domicile only domicile of
India. It was also held that the domicile of a person is in that country in which he either has
or is deemed by law to have his permanent house.

B) Citizenship of migrants to India from Pakistan (Article 6):

Persons who have migrated from Pakistan to India have been classified into two
categories:
i) Those who came to India before July 19, 1948 3, and
ii) Those who came on or after July 19, 1948.
In the case of persons migrating before July 19, 1948, if the person has been ordinarily
residing in India since the date of his/her migration, and in case of a person migrating on
or after July 19, 1948, if he/she has been registered as a citizen of India, after residing
for at least six months immediately before the date of applying for registration, by an
officer appointed by the government of India, shall be deemed to be a citizen of India.
C) Citizenship of migrants of Pakistan (Article 7):
If a citizen of India has migrated to Pakistan after March 1, 1947 4, but returned to India
on the basis of permit for resettlement in India, the person is entitled to become a citizen
of India if he/she registers herself as a citizen of India, after residing for at least six
months immediately before the date of applying for registration, by an officer appointed
by the government of India.
D) Citizenship of persons of Indian origin residing outside India (Article 8):
Indian nationals (whose parents or any grandparents were born in India as defined in the
Government of India Act, 1935) residing abroad shall be conferred Indian citizenship, as
if they have been registered by the diplomatic or consular representatives of India in the
country where they are residing.
E) Persons voluntarily acquiring citizenship of a foreign state not to be citizens
(Article 9)
No person shall be a citizen of India by virtue of article 5 or be deemed to be a citizen of
India by virtue of article 6 or article 8 if he has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of any
foreign State.

3
On 19th July 1948 the permit system was introduced. This system provided that a person who desires to
return back to India with an intention to permanently reside was required to get a separate permit.
4
On 1st March 1947 partition of India is finalised by Lord Mountbatten.
F) Continuance of the rights of citizenship (Article 10)
Every person who is or is deemed to be a citizen of India under any of the foregoing
provisions of this Part shall, subject to the provisions of any law that may be made by
Parliament, continue to be such citizen.
G) Parliament to regulate the right of citizenship by law (Article 11)
Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this Part shall derogate from the power of
Parliament to make any provision with respect to the acquisition and termination of
citizenship and all other matters relating to citizenship.

VI. The Citizenship Act, 1955

Parliament, in exercise of the power given to it under Article 11 of the Constitution, has
passed the Citizenship Act, 1955, making provisions for acquisition and termination of
Citizenship after the commencement of the Constitution. Citizenship Act 1955 speaks
about the citizenship of India after the commencement of the Constitution. It is an act
to provide for the acquisition and termination of Indian citizenship. The legislation related
to this matter is the Citizenship Act 1955, which has been amended by the Citizenship
(Amendment) Act 1986, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 1992, the Citizenship
(Amendment) Act 2003, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2005, the Citizenship
(Amendment) Act 2015 and the Citizenship (Amendment Act, 2019).
The Act provides for acquisition of Indian citizenship in the following ways:

VII. Ways for Acquisition of Citizenship

i) Citizenship by birth:
 Anyone born in India on or after January 26, 1950, would be deemed a citizen by
birth.
 This limit was further amended to include those born between January 26, 1950
and July 1, 1987. A person born in India on or after 1st July 1987 is considered as a citizen
of India only if either of his parents is a citizen of India at the time of his birth.
 By the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2003, persons born after December 3, 2004,
would be deemed to be citizens of India if either of the parents is Indian or one of the
parents is a citizen of India and the other was not an illegal migrant at the time of the
person’s birth.
ii) Citizenship by descent:
A person who is born outside India on or after 26 January 1950 but before 10 December
1992 is an Indian citizen by descent if his father was a citizen of India at the time of his
birth.
If A person born outside India on or after 10th December 1992 is considered an Indian
citizen if either of his parents is a citizen of India at the time of his birth.
A person born outside India after 3 December 2004 cannot be a citizen of India on the
basis of descent if he is not registered with the Indian Consulate within one year of his
birth.

iii) Citizenship by registration:

If a person registers with the Government of India, he can become a citizen of India only
when;
A. The person must have lived in India 7 years before applying for citizenship.
B. A person who is married to any Indian citizen and has been living in India for 7 years
before applying for citizenship.
C. A person who is of full age and capacity and his parents are registered as citizens of
India.
D. Minor children of persons who are citizens of India.

iv) Citizenship by naturalisation:

The Central Government may grant citizenship to an individual (not an illegal migrant) on
receipt of the application if he/she holds the following qualifications;
A. A person is granted a certificate of naturalisation if the person is not an illegal
migrant and has resided in India for 12 months before making an application to seek the
certificate. Of the 14 years preceding this 12-months duration, the person must have
stayed in India for 11 years.
B. He/she must not be from a country whose citizens cannot become citizens of India by
natural means.
C. He should have good character
D. Must have a good knowledge of languages mentioned in the 8th schedule of the
constitution.
v) Citizenship by incorporation of territory: If any new territory becomes a part of
India, the government of India shall specify the persons of the territory to be citizens of
India.
If the central government is of the opinion that an applicant is a person who has
rendered distinguished service to the cause of science, philosophy, art, literature, world
peace or human progress generally, it may waive all or any conditions specified to attain
Indian citizenship.

VIII. Termination of Citizenship

The citizenship Act, 1955, also lays down how the citizenship of India may be lost
whether it was acquired under the Citizenship Act, 1955, or prior to it, under the
provisions of the Constitution. it may happen in any of the 3 ways (under Act) and
impliedly one more way. So, loss of citizenship is possible by 4 ways.
 Renunciation

 Termination

 Deprivation

 By Seclusion of territory

 1. Voluntary Renunciation: If an Indian citizen wishes, who is of full age and

capacity, he can relinquish citizenship of India by his will.
 When a person relinquishes his citizenship, every minor child of that person also
loses Indian citizenship. However, when such a child attains the age of 18, he may resume
Indian citizenship.
 2. By Termination: The Constitution of India provides single citizenship. It means
an Indian person can only be a citizen of one country at a time. If a person takes the
citizenship of another country, then his Indian citizenship ends automatically.
 3. Deprivation by Government: The Government of India may terminate the
citizenship of an Indian citizen if;
 (i). Citizen has disrespected the Constitution

 (ii). Has obtained citizenship by fraud

 (iii). The citizen has unlawfully traded or communicated with the enemy during a
war.
 (iv). Within 5 years of registration or naturalisation, a citizen has been sentenced to
2 years of imprisonment in any country.
 (v). Citizen has been living outside India for 7 years continuously.

IX. Citizenship Amendment Act, 2003

- It introduced the concept of OCI (Overseas Citizens of India) for citizens of specified
countries who are of Indian origin.
- Introduced the concept of illegal migrants and deprived them from acquiring citizenship
by process of registration or by naturalization.
- It mandated the union government of India to create and maintain a National Register of
Citizens (NRC).
- Empowers the Centre to issue orders for the preparation of NPR (National Population
Register) and create NRC based on the data of NPR.

X. What is NPR (National Population Register)?

- The NPR is a list of usual residents of a country. According to the Ministry of Home
Affairs, government of India, the Usual Resident of a country is a person who has been
residing in a local area for at least the past 6 months or intends to stay in a particular
location for the next 6 months.
- NPR is not a citizenship enumeration drive as it would record even a foreign national
who is living/ staying in a locality for more than 6months.
- This distinguishes the NPR from NRC as the latter includes only Indian citizens while
seeking to identify and exclude non-citizens.
- The NPR is being prepared under the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the
Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
It is mandatory for every usual resident of India to register in the NPR except Assam as it
has recently completed NRC in the State.
NRC will flow out of NPR.

XI. Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI)

- This scheme was introduced by amending the Citizenship Act, 1955 in August 2005 in
response to demands for dual citizenship by the Indian diasporas, particularly in developed
countries. It was launched during the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas convention at Hyderabad in
2006.
- OCI scheme provides for the registration of the overseas citizens of india of all persons of
Indian origin who were the citizens of India on or after 26 th January, 1950 and who are
citizens of other countries excluding Pakistan and Bangladesh.
- Multi-purpose and life-long visa is provided to the registered overseas citizen of India for
visiting India and are also exempted from registration with foreign regional registration
officer or foreign registration officer for any length of stay in India.
- The OCI card was introduced for fulfilling the demands for dual citizenship among the
Indians living in different development countries.
- the OCI card provides overseas citizenship of India to live and work in India for an
indefinite period of time but does not provide the right to vote, hold constitutional offices
or buy agricultural properties.

XII. OCI : Conferment of Rights

The registered overseas citizens of India are not entitled to several rights that are conferred
on a citizen of India such as :-
- Right to equality of opportunity under Article 16 of the Constitution with regard to
public employment.
- Right for election as President and Vice President.
- They are not entitled to the rights under Article 124 and 217 of the Constitution.
- Rights with regard to the eligibility for being a member of the State Council /
Legislative Assembly/ Legislative Council.
- For an appointment to the posts of Public Services and Union Affairs of any State.
- OCI does not offer dual nationality and it does not confer political rights.
 The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) was the ministry in charge of all
matters relating to overseas Indians that consist of persons of Indian Origin (PIO) non –
resident Indians (NRIs) and overseas citizens of Indian (OCI). India’s engagement with its
oversea community has been mainstreamed with the establishment of MOIA.
 The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs was merged with the Ministry of External
Affairs (MEA) on January 16th, 2016. The decision was made to streamline the process
involving the Indian diasporas and prevent duplication of tasks while addressing
bureaucratic red tape.
XIII. Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD)
- Pravasi Bhartiya Divas is a day observed on 9 th January every year by the Indian
government to celebrate to economic, social and cultureal contributions of its overseas
citizens. This day was chosen as the special day because January 9 th was the day when in
1915, Mahatma Gandi returned to India from his stay in South Africa. So technically,
Mahatma Gandhi is considered as the first pravasi bhartiya.
- The decision to celebrate such contributions was taken by the Prime Minister Atal
Bihari Vajpayee under the recommendations of the L.M.Singhvi Committee, 2011.
- Accepting the findings of the committee, the Prime Minister announced the
commemoration of ‘Pravasi Bhartiya Divas’ on 9th January, 2002.
- The celebrations are marked by programs that recognize the contributions of
NRI/PIO individuals of exceptional merit and those who have made excellent contributions
in their respective fields.
- Difference between a Non-Resident Indian and a Person of Indian Origin: A
non- resident Indian is a citizen of India who is residing in a foreign nation but still holds
an Indian passport, while a person of Indian origin is someone who was born overseas but
whose parents or ancestors were legally the citizens of India.
- Dual Citizenship means any person who is a citizen of two countries
simultaneously and sharing the rights and responsibilities of citizens in each country.
It is a legal status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a national or citizen of
more than one country under the laws of those countries. Each country has its own
citizenship laws based on its internal policy priorities.
- As a dual citizen, a person is allowed to carry passport from both the
countries.
- Most of the countries that allow dual citizenship are found in Europe such as the
UK, North America and Latin America.
- On the other hand, there are countries like India, china and Saudi Arabia that do
not allow any type of Dual Citizenship. They follow the system of automatically revoking
the citizenship of its nationals if they acquire the citizenship of another country.

XIV. Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019

- It received the Presidential assent on 12th December, 2019.
- It amends the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make illegal migrants of 6 communities (Hindu,
Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians) from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan
eligible for Indian citizenship.
- It also seeks to relax the requirement of residence in India for citizenship by
naturalization from 11 years to 5 years for persons belonging to the 6 communities and
from 3 countries mentioned above.
- Only those migrants from the above said countries will be eligible for Indian citizenship
who entered India on or before 31st December, 2014.

XV. A Company or corporation whether citizen under Article 19?

A. Juristic person is not a citizen
Citizenship as defined in Part II indicates only natural person and not juristic persons like
corporations.
In State Trading Corporation of India v. Commercial Tax Officer [AIR 1963 SC 184]
The Supreme Court held that company or corporation is not a citizen of India and cannot,
therefore, claim such of the fundamental rights as have been conferred upon citizens.

In Tata Engineering and Locomotive Co. v. State of Bihar [AIR 1965 SC 40]
In a petition by the company some shareholders also joined. They argued that though the
company was not a citizen but its shareholders were citizens and if it was shown that all its
shareholders were citizens the veil of corporate personality might be lifted to protect their
fundamental rights. The court rejected this argument and held that “ if this plea is upheld, it
would really mean that what the corporations and companies cannot achieve directly can
be achieved by them indirectly by relying upon the doctrine of lifting the corporate veil.”

B. Juristic person is a citizen for enjoyment of certain fundamental rights

1. In R.C. Cooper v. UOI [AIR 1970 SC 564] (Bank Nationalization case)
In this the Supreme Court has neutralized much of the adverse effect of the State Trading
Corporation case judgment. SC proposed the test in determining whether the shareholder’s
right is impaired is not formal. It is essentially qualitative, if the State action impairs the
right of the shareholders as well as of the company the court will not only upon technical
ground, deny itself jurisdiction to grant relief. A Shareholder is entitled to the protection of
Article 19 of the Constitution. The fundamental rights of shareholders as citizens are not
lost when they associate to form a company. When their fundamental rights as
shareholders are impaired by State action their rights as shareholders are protected. The
reason is that the shareholder’s rights are equally and necessarily effected if the rights of
the company are effected.

2. In Bennett Coleman and Co. v. UOI [AIR 1973 SC 106] (News print order case)
The Supreme Court of India by relying on the Bank Nationalization case held that the
protection of Article was available to a shareholder, editor, printer and publisher of a
newspaper. The court said the rights of shareholders with regard to Article 19 (1) (a) were
protected and manifested by the newspapers owned and controlled by the shareholders
through the medium of the corporation. By this judgment court held that the locus standi of
the shareholders is beyond challenge after the ruling of the supreme court in bank
nationalization case.

3. In D.C and G.M v. UOI [AIR 1983 SC 937]

The Supreme Court has held that writ petition filed by a company complaining denial of
fundamental rights guaranteed under Art.19 is maintainable. In the matter of fundamental
freedoms guaranteed by Article 19, Desai, J., held, the right of a shareholder and the
company which the shareholders have formed are co-extensive and the denial to one of the
fundamental freedoms would be denial to the other. The judge pointed out that this is the
modern trend and suggested that the controversy on the point should be put to an end by
passing appropriate legislation.

Conclusion
A citizen enjoys fundamental rights including right to work, right to vote, right to return,
etc. in his or her country. At the same time, the citizen is also bound to observe duties of
citizenship. Even if these are acquired under legal terms, the acquisition of citizenship is
not the end. It reflects that the right to citizenship is not an absolute one, and the legislature
may impose reasonable restrictions on the enjoyment of one’s citizenship. It can also be
discontinued by the Government of India fewer than three ways specified with the
Citizenship Act (1955). The ways comprise renunciation, termination, and deprivation.
None is given an unlimited extent on his/her rights. This is done to prevent misuse of the
powers and the responsibilities that are bestowed. Interestingly, the Indian Constitution
provides for only single citizenship, there is no differentiation in the centre and state
citizenship. In the case of India, there are consistent rights and obligations conferred to the
citizens of India all over the country.
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