Rahul Gandhi citizenship: Delhi High Court flags pendency of similar plea before Allahabad High Court

The Delhi High Court on Thursday said that it will hear the plea by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy seeking revocation of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi's citizenship only after ascertaining the status of a similar plea which is under consideration by the Allahabad High Court..A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said that it would be improper for two High Courts to hear the same issue simultaneously. “Isn’t Allahabad High Court also seized with the controversy? It will not be proper for two courts to simultaneously hear the same matter,” the ACJ said.Justice Manmohan asked Central Government Standing Counsel (CGSC) Apoorv Kurup to furnish details regarding the status of proceedings before the Allahabad High Court.The Court also sought a copy of the plea filed before Allahabad High Court and said that it will decide whether to continue hearing the matter after obtaining details regarding the Allahabad High Court case.The case will be taken up next on October 9. .The Court was referring to the plea before the Allahabad High Court by one S Vignesh Shishir who has sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into Gandhi's citizenship.Like Swamy's plea, Shishir's plea too claimed that Gandhi was a citizen of United Kingdom (UK).The Allahabad High Court had on Wednesday asked the Central government to furnish details about the status of a representation made by Shishir before the Home Ministry in this regard..Swamy's plea before the High Court has alleged that Gandhi is a British national.He has sought directions to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to decide his representation to cancel the Indian citizenship of Gandhi.Swamy had written to the MHA in 2019 alleging that a company named Backops Limited was registered in the United Kingdom (UK) in the year 2003, and that Gandhi was one of its Directors and Secretary. The BJP leader said that in the company's annual returns filed on October 10, 2005 and October 31, 2006, Gandhi declared his nationality as British. It was further stated that in the company's dissolution application dated February 17, 2009, Gandhi's nationality had again been mentioned as British. Swamy said that this violates Article 9 of the Constitution of India and Indian Citizenship Act, 1955. The MHA wrote to Gandhi on April 29, 2019 asking him to "intimate the factual position" in this regard withing a fortnight. However, Swamy argued that despite more than five years having passed after his letter, there is still no clarity from the MHA as to what decision has been taken on it. .Earlier, Swamy's plea was listed before Justice Sanjeev Narula who sent the matter to the bench dealing with public interest litigation (PIL) petitions. Justice Narula observed that Swamy had failed to demonstrate any “enforceable constitutional rights” for issuance of writ directions to the MHA.However, it had taken note of Swamy’s stand that public interest was involved in the matter and sent the matter to the PIL bench. .Swamy argued his case in person.