Madras High Court rejects plea to grant Indian citizenship to children born at Sri Lankan Tamil refugee camps

Madras High Court refuses to grant Indian citizenship to children born in Sri Lankan refugee camps in Tamil Nadu.

The Madras High Court on Thursday, March 14, 2024 refused to issue a general direction to the Centre to grant Indian citizenship to all children born at the special camps for Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu. The court disposed of a public interest litigation (PIL) petition which sought such a direction.

Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy said, the PIL petition was bereft of details and that the authorities concerned would be able to consider the plea only when basic details such as the date and place of birth, parents’ citizenship and so on could be submitted.

V. Ravikumar, an advocate based in Chennai, had filed the PIL petition. He claimed to have made a representation to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on September 17, 2022, for considering the issue of granting Indian citizenship to every baby born in the camps for Sri Lankan Tamil refugees.

After the NHRC took cognizance of the issue, the Union Home Ministry (citizenship wing) sent a detailed communication to the petitioner on December 14, 2022 explaining why citizenship by birth could not be claimed now, as a matter of right, by all those who were born at the refugee camps.

The Ministry stated that Indian citizenship was granted to Indian origin Tamils as per the terms of Sirimavo - Shastri Agreement of the year 1964 and the Sirimavo - Gandhi Agreement of the year 1974. Then, the issue was dealt with under Section 5(1)(b) of the Citizenship Act applicable to people of Indian origin.

However, the statutory time limit for making an application under the Sirima - Shastri pact of 1964 was fixed to be October 31, 1981 and the Indian Origin Tamils who had failed to apply before the cut-off date were not entitled to get Indian citizenship even under Section 5(1)(b).