Rahul Gandhi’s citizenship in trouble? What did the Centre say, Delhi High Court said- cannot interfere

The Central government on Wednesday informed the Delhi High Court that the issue of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Indian citizenship is pending before the Ministry of Home Affairs. Considering the arguments of the Center’s counsel, a bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyay and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela adjourned the hearing of the case till May 28. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy has requested the High Court to direct the Home Ministry to take a decision on Rahul’s citizenship. Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma told the High Court, “The matter is pending.” The bench was also told that the Allahabad High Court, which is hearing a similar petition, had recently given four weeks to the Home Ministry to inform about the outcome of the proceedings. When Swamy requested the court to direct Rahul to file a reply to the letter issued to him by the Home Ministry, the bench said that it cannot interfere in the proceedings of the ministry. Delhi High Court said – we cannot compel

The Delhi High Court bench said, “We cannot compel. The proceedings are pending before the Ministry. It is the ministry’s job to take a decision. We cannot interfere in the proceedings of the ministry and cannot issue any direction to any person involved in the proceedings before the ministry.” On February 19, the Delhi High Court had asked the central government to inform it about the status of Swamy’s representation to the Ministry of Home Affairs to take a decision on the issue related to Rahul’s Indian citizenship.

‘Rahul Gandhi violated the rules, citizenship should be canceled’

Swamy’s petition, filed through advocate Satya Sabharwal, said that a letter was sent to the ministry on August 6, 2019, alleging that Rahul had ‘voluntarily disclosed’ to the British government that he has British citizenship, which is equivalent to holding a British passport. Swamy has said that the Congress leader, despite being an Indian citizen, has violated Article 9 of the Constitution and the Indian Citizenship Act and his Indian citizenship should be cancelled.