NEW DELHI, October 21 — A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court of India upheld the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act 1955 by a 4:1 majority verdict on Tuesday, affirming the statutory framework of the historic 1985 Assam Accord.
Inserted into the Citizenship Act in 1985 following the tripartite Assam Accord signed between the Central Government, the Assam State Government, and the All Assam Students' Union (AASU), Section 6A established March 25, 1971—the eve of the Bangladesh Liberation War—as the cut-off date for granting Indian citizenship to migrants who entered Assam from East Pakistan. The majority bench held that Parliament possessed plenary legislative competence under Article 11 to enact a special humanitarian and political settlement without violating Articles 6, 7, 14, or cultural rights under Article 29(1).
Concurrently, the apex court issued stern directions mandating that immigrants who entered Assam on or after March 25, 1971 are illegal entrants under statutory law, instructing state and central machinery to maintain rigorous border surveillance and expedite statutory detection and deportation mechanisms.
Constitutional provisions governing Citizenship in Part II of the Constitution (Articles 5 to 11), modes of acquisition and termination under the Citizenship Act 1955, the historical context of the 1985 Assam Accord, and the Foreigners Act 1946 are indispensable topics for UPSC Prelims and Mains (GS Paper II).