Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court is set to hear on October 9 a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) moved by senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy seeking direction to the Union Home Ministry to cancel the Indian citizenship of Rahul Gandhi when the Congress leader has “declared himself a British citizen”.
As per the causelist published on the website of the Delhi HC, a bench headed by Chief Justice Manmohan will take up the matter for hearing.
In an earlier hearing, the Bench, also comprising Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, noted that a similar petition is pending before the Allahabad High Court and asked the Union government’s standing counsel to obtain a copy of the petition, along with the case status, pending before the Allahabad HC.
Deferring the hearing, the Delhi HC remarked that the same issue should not be agitated simultaneously before two different forums in the interest of justice. “We intend to doubly make sure that we do not usurp the other High Court’s jurisdiction,” it said.
The plea filed by Swamy before the Delhi High Court sought direction to the Union Home Ministry to furnish a status report on the complaint/representation filed by him against Gandhi and decide it at the earliest.
The BJP leader, in 2019, wrote a letter to the Union Home Ministry on violations made by Rahul Gandhi in voluntarily disclosing to the UK government that he is a citizen of British nationality, holding a British passport.
Swamy said that with this declaration, the Congress leader ceases to be an Indian Citizen in terms of Article 9 of the Constitution read with the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955.
In his petition, Swamy said that he sent many representations to the Home Ministry asking for an update and the status of his complaint, but no action has been taken or intimated to him about the same.
