The Allahabad High Court on Monday disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a CBI probe into the alleged British citizenship of Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi.
The Bench of Justice Attau Rehman Masoodi and Justice Rajeev Singh, however, granted liberty to petitioner and
BJP leader S Vignesh Shishir to pursue alternative legal remedies.
The High Court further ordered the Central government to decide on the petitioner’s representation seeking cancellation of Gandhi’s citizenship.
The petitioner, also an MP from Karnataka, contended that he had already submitted a detailed representation-cum-complaint to the Foreigners Division at the Ministry of Home Affairs, requesting to cancel Gandhi’s Indian citizenship.
The representation was moved as per Rules and Regulations of Section 9 (2) of the 1955 Act read with Rule 40 (2) of the Citizenship Rules 2009 and Schedule III of 2009 Rules.
Section 40 of the 2009 Rules deals with the Union 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Vignesh had moved this representation following the dismissal of a similar plea (filed by the same petitioner) that was withdrawn earlier, with a liberty to the petitioner to approach the competent authority under Section 9(2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, as far as it was permissible in law.