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A PROJECT REPORT ON:

CITIZENSHIP OF INDIA AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE

CONSTITUTION

UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF LEGAL STUDIES

PANJAB UNIVERSITY, CHANDIGARH

IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT OF

B.A. LL.B.(HONS.)
YEAR-2nd , SEMESTER- 3rd

SUBMITTED TO:
DR. RATTAN SINGH

SUBMITTED BY:

ISHIKA(115/20)

SECTION-B
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CONTENTS

1. Acknowledgement……………………………………page no. 3

2. Introduction…………………………………………..page no. 4

3. Citizenship by domicile………………………………page no. 5-6

4. Citizenship by migration…………………………….page no. 6-7

5. Citizenship by registration…………………………..page no. 7-8

6. Conclusion……………………………………………page no. 9

7. Bibliography…………………………………………page no. 10
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In the achievement of this venture effectively, many individuals have best claimed upon me
their approval and heart vowed support , this time I am using to thank every one individuals
who have been worried about my task.

First of I would thank the incomparable Power of The Almighty God who is clearly the one
has directed me to deal with the correct way of life. Without his Grace this undertaking
couldn't turn into a reality.

Close to him, I might want to recognize and give my obligation and profound appreciation to
my set of experiences educator Dr. Rattan Singh who made this work conceivable. His
direction and exhortation vehicle ried me through every one of the phases of composing my
task. His ideas and guidelines have filled in as a significant giver towards the fruition of this
task.

Then, at that point I might want to thank the writers and scholars of books and articles which
helped me a great deal in my exploration work.

Lastly however but not the least I might want to thank my parents who has consistently
upheld me ethically and financially and my companions who straightforwardly or in a
roundabout way assisted me with finishing this task report on schedule.

I have no important words to communicate my much appreciation, yet my heart is loaded

with the blessings got from each individual.

Ishika
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INTRODUCTION

Part II of the constitution deal with the law relating to citizenship of India at the
commencement of the constitution i.e. on 26 January, 1950.

The concept of Indian citizenship did not exist to November 26 1949, when the constituent
assembly was bringing the provisions of citizenship in to the constitution.1 That was the
period of British rule and India was called as British India and people living that time the
residents of British India and were known as British subjects. These all people were governed
by the British nationality acts. No princely states were there.
As we know citizen of a state is that person who enjoys many of the civil and political rights
of that state. Therefore, citizenship simply means the relationship of an individual with the
state from the internal aspect. In other words it means the membership of the political
community for the state. It is the legal status determined by the specific rights and duties.
Having citizenship of a country have its own advantages for example certain fundamental
rights which available only to the citizens of India2 and only citizens have the right to hold
the higher posts of the state and country.3 Even right to vote and context elections are also
available to citizens of India only.4
On the partition of the country, some people were living in India and others went to Pakistan
and some people coming from Pakistan to India and some others were living abroad. To
provide all of them citizenship of India many of the problems were faced:-
1.The people who were born and living in the territory enclosed in Pakistan and migrated to
India were to be provided Indian Citizenship.
2.The people who migrated to Pakistan but were born in India were to be excluded and
debarred from Indian Citizenship.
3.People who migrated to Pakistan in 1947 but returned back to live in the Indian territory
permanently had to be provided Citizenship.
4.People who were living abroad but were born in India had to be provided with Indian
citizenship.
To solve all this problems, a person, at the commencement of the constitution could be the
citizen of India By domicile, By migration, By registration.

1
B. Shiva Rao, framing of India’s constitution-A study, 149.
2
Articles 15, 16, 19, 29, 30 of the constitution.
3
Articles 58, 63(3), 157, 124(3), 217(2), 76, 165 of the constitution.
4
Articles 326, 84, 102, 173, 191 of the constitution of India.
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1. CITIZENSHIP BY DOMICILE (ARTICLE 5)

Domicile in India is considered to be an essential requirement for acquiring the citizenship.
The term domicile is not defined in the constitution. It is a place which a person fixes as a
habitation for himself and his family for not here especially a temporary purpose but with the
present intention of making it his permanent home.5The ‘Domicile’ means that a person must
be having permanent home in Chandigarh or he being there for years with the intention to
live permanently or indefinitely.6Hence, domicile is different from place of birth and
residence. For domicile there are two elements which are necessary:-
Domicile Animus which means intention to stay, to live, to adopt or to be intrinsic part of
country. In Central bank of India v. Ram narayan7, it was held that the intention to reside
forever in a country where one has taken up his residence is an essential constituent element
for the existence of domicile in that country
Domicile factum which means that the residence must be permanent and not for any
commercial activity.
There are three kinds of Domicile:-
1) Of Origin: it is acquired by a person at time of his birth, even if he/she is not born
in India but his/her parents and grandparents are born in India.
2) Of Choice: it is acquired by residence in territory subject to a distinctive legal
system with the intention to reside their permanently.
3) By operation of law: it is imposed by law and it vests in a person without taking
into consideration a person’s residence or intention to change residence. Persons
falling under it are wife, a minor, a lunatic.
A person is entitled to citizenship under Article 5 by fulfilling two conditions:
1) At commencement of the constitution, the person must have domicile of India.
2) There are three conditions out of which one need to be fulfilled:-
a) He was born in India,
b) Either his parents was born in India,
c) He must have been ordinarily resident in the territory of India for not
less than five years immediately before the commencement of
constitution.

5
Abdus Samad v. State of West Bengal, AIR 1973 SC 505.
6
Chandigarh housing board v. Gurmeet Singh, AIR 2002 SC 587.
7
AIR 1955 SC 36.
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There can be no separate domiciles for states. This issue was discussed by Apex court in
following case laws:-
In D.P. Joshi v. State of Madhya Bharat8, SC held that it is thereoretically possible to have
a separate state domicile in India.
In Pradeep Jain v. Union of India9, SC held when a person who is permanently resident in
one state goes to another state with intention to reside there permanently or indefinitely,his
domicile, does not change and he doesnot acquire a new domicile of his choice.

2. CITIZENSHIP BY MIGRATION ( ARTICLE 6)

According to majority of supreme court, migration was ‘going from one place to another,
whether with the intention to reside there permanently or not,but the movement should be
voluntary and not for specific purpose, or for specific or limited time.’
Article 6 is applicable to the persons of Indian origin. These are those persons who are born
within territory of India as per GOI act,1935; or either their parents are born, or any of their
grandparents was born in territory of India.
This article is divided into two categories:-
i. Those who came to India before 19 July, 194810, and
ii. Those who came to India on or after 19 July, 1948.
Migration from Pakistan to India before 19 July, 1948
As per Article 6, the persons of Indian origin who migrated to India before 19 July, 1948,
would deemed to be citizens of India.
Migration from Pakistan to India on or after 19 July, 1948
As per Article 6, the persons of Indian origin who migrated on or after 19 July, 1948 would
be citizen of India only when he or she has been registered as a citizen by an officer
appointed on behalf of Government of India. For this he must be registered and in his
application he need to prove that he had been resident of India for last 6 months.

Article 7 provides that a citizen of India who migrated to Pakistan after 1 March,1947
ceased to be citizen of India. Migration referred to in article 7 is between 1 March 1947 and
26 January 1950. It does not extend to migration after that date which would be covered by
the citizenship act 1955.

8
AIR 1955 SC 334.
9
AIR 1984 SC 1420.
10
The date on which permit system for this migration was introduced.
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On the other hand if that person want to come back to India after 1 March,1947 he can be
citizen of India by the rules under article 6 which are that if he came to India before 19th
July, 1948 he deemed to be citizen of India and if we came after 19 July,1948 he would be
citizen of India, only when he register himself as a citizen of India to the register of the
officer appointed on behalf of Government of India and he need to prove that he was the
resident in territory of India for at least 6 months preceding the date of application.
In kulathil Mamma v. State of Kerala11 , it was held by supreme court that the person who
left for Pakistan in 1948 came back to India in 1954 and 1956 on Pakistan passport he had
lost his Indian citizenship because of his migrating to Pakistan.
In Bhawanrao Khan v. Union of India12 , it was held that those who had voluntarily
migrated to Pakistan and became citizen of Pakistan cannot claim citizenship of India on the
ground that they had been living in India for a long time and their names have been included
in voters list.
In State of Bihar v. kumar Amar Singh13, Kumar Rani, who contended first that she is
citizen of India because she was born here and her domicile was of her husband, who was an
Indian, and she said that article 7 is applicable on her as she returned to India on permanent
permit and it is illegal and irrelavent to cancel her permit. It was held that there could be no
doubt that the lady must be held to have migrated from territory of India after 1 March, 1947,
although her husband stayed in India, but she could not prove that she went to Pakistan for
temporary purpose.
Hence Supreme court observed that article 7 clearly overrides article 5. It is pre- emptory in
its scope and makes no exception for the case, i.e., of the wife migrating to Pakistan leaving
her husband in India.

3. CITIZENSHIP BY REGISTRATION (ARTICLE 8)

This article confers citizenship on Indian nationals residing abroad on their complying with
its provisions.
Under this article a person can be citizen of India if:-
i. he is born in territory of India, or
ii. His parents are born in territory of India,or
iii. His grandparents are born in territory of India.

11
AIR 1966 SC 1614.
12
AIR 2002 SC 1614.
13
AIR 1955 SC 282.
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Under any of the above conditions, that person who is person of Indian origin, can register
his name by making an application to the consular representative or diplomatic of India in the
country where he is residing.
This application made by him whether before or after 26 January, 1950, must be in the form
and manner prescribed by the Government of the Dominion of India or Government of India.

Article 9 provides that there must be no dual citizenship. Under this article, if a person has
voluntarily acquired citizenship of foreign country, then he cannot be citizen of India.
The question whether an Indian citizen has acquired the citizenship of a foreign country, is
one for the determination by the central Government and not by the court.14
The words “foreign state” in this article has no reference to article 7.

Article 10 provides that citizenship is not permanent. Under this article any person who is
deemed to be citizenship of India under article 5 or under Article 6 or under Article 8 or by
any other methods in citizenship act, 1955 deemed to be citizen of India may continue his
citizenship. But his citizen ship can be revoked or cancelled at any time by the provisions or
laws made by the parliament.

Article 11 empowers parliament to make laws for acquiring and terminating the citizenship
of India of India after the commencement of the constitution and all other related matters.
Due to this article The citizenship act, 1955 came to force. Even the Supreme court also
ruled that the right of citizenship could be taken away by recourse to article 11 of the
constitution.

14
State of Andhra Pradesh v. Khader, AIR 1961 SC 1468.
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CONCLUSION
Citizenship simply means the relationship of an individual with the state from the internal
aspect. In other words it means the membership of the political community for the state. It is
the legal status determined by the specific rights and duties.
There are mainly three ways by which a person can acquire citizenship of India. These ways
are :
By domicile under article 5
By migration under article 6
By registration under article 8
The citizenship by the above methods can be terminated at any time by union parliament of
India. Hence the citizenship is not permanent.
Also there can be no dual citizenship which means if a person is already citizen of a foreign
country with his full intention then he cannot acquire citizenship of India.

For acquiring citizen of India conditions given from article (5-11) need to be fulfilled.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books referred:-
▪ The constitutional law of India by Narendra kumar
▪ Constitutional law of India by Dr. JN Pandey
▪ Indian polity by M Laxmikanth

Sites referred:-
▪ https://www.clearias.com/citizenship/
▪ https://www.drishtiias.com/to-the-points/Paper2/citizenship-of-india

Articles referred:-
▪ The nuts and bolts of Indian citizenship by Shruti Jain.