NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday referred BJP leader Dr. Subramanian Swamy's plea regarding Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's citizenship to the bench handling public interest litigation cases led by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan. The decision comes after Swamy sought judicial intervention to push for action on his complaint against Gandhi.
Justice Sanjeev Narula observed that Swamy had not demonstrated any enforceable legal right to invoke the court’s writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution. He suggested that the case could be considered under PIL jurisdiction.
The controversy dates back to August 2019, when Swamy penned a letter to the Centre, accusing Gandhi of violating constitutional provisions by allegedly declaring himself a British citizen in documents submitted to the British Government. He claimed that Gandhi, an Indian national, may have violated Article 9 of the Indian Constitution and the Indian Citizenship Act of 1955, which strictly prohibits Indian citizens from holding dual citizenship.
"Gandhi's nationality was listed as British in a UK-based company's annual returns for 2005 and 2006"
According to Swamy, Gandhi's involvement with a UK-based company, Backops Limited, which was registered in 2003, is at the heart of the issue. Swamy alleged that in the company's annual returns for 2005 and 2006, Gandhi's nationality was listed as British, raising serious questions about his Indian citizenship. "If he declared himself a British citizen, it could mean forfeiture of his Indian citizenship," Swamy alleged.
In April 2019, the Central Government sent a notice to Gandhi titled "Complaint regarding citizenship," seeking clarification on the matter. Despite this, Swamy contends that there has been no significant progress or resolution to his complaint. He has repeatedly requested updates from the government but claims that his inquiries have been met with silence.
Swamy's petition, filed through Advocate Satya Sabharwal, requests that the Centre be directed to make a decision on his complaint without further delay and to issue a final order on the matter.
The Supreme Court dismissed a plea to bar Rahul Gandhi from contesting the 2019 General Elections over the same citizenship issue in May 2019. The court also questioned the basis of the allegations, with a judge reportedly remarking, "Just because a document mentions him as British, does it automatically make him a British citizen?"
