bll1 no 183 of 1185  the citizenship (amendment) bill, 1985 it billfurther to amend t1&c citizenshilp act, 1950 whereas for the purpose of giving effect to certain provisions of the mem lrandum of settlement relating to the foreigners' issue in assam (assam accord) which was laid before the houses of parliament on the 16th dl'y of august, 1985 it is necessary to amend the citizenship act, 5 1955; be it enacted by parliament in the thirty-sixth year of the republic of india as follows:-may, by notification in the offici a] gazette, appoint 1 (1) this act may be called the citizenship 1985 (amendment) act, ljhort title ad 10 (2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government eommencemeat 57 ot 1955 2 in the citizenship act, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as the principal ,inser-act), after section 6, the following section shall be inserted, namely: -tion of new section fa; "6a (1) for the purpo~es of this section-· 15 (a) "assam" means the territories included in the state of assam immediately before the commencement of the citizenship (amendment) act, 1985; 31 ot 1846 ~o (b) "detected to be a foreigner" means detected to be a foreigner in accordance with the provisions of the foreigners act, 1946 and the foreigners (tribunals) order, 1984 by - tribunal constituted under the said order; spedal provision, as to c:iuzenahipof perloj18 covered by the auam aoeord (c) "specified territory" means the territories included in bangladesh immediately before the commencement ot the citizenship (amendment) act, 1985; (d) a person shall be deemed to be of indian origin, if he, or either of his parents or any of his grandparents was born in 5 undivided india; (e) a person shall be deemed to have been detected to be a foreigner on the date on whirh a tribunal constituted under the foreigners (tribunals) order, 1964 submits its opinion to the effect that he is a foreigner to the officer or authority concerned, (2) subject to the provisions of sub-sections (6), and (7), all 10 persons of indian origin who came before the 1st day of january, 1966 to assam from the specified territory (including such of those whose names were included in the electoral rolls used for the purposes of the general election, to thc7 house of the people held in 1967) and who have been ordinarily resident in assam since the dates 15 of their entry into assam shall be deemed to be citizens of india as from the 1st day of january, 1966 (3) subject to the provisions of sub-sectiods (6) and (7), every penon !)f indian orilin who-(a) came to assam on or after the lst da, ol january, 1966 20 but before the 25th day of march, 1971 from ~ specified territory; and ! :" (b) has, since the date of his entry into assam, been ordinarily resident in assam; and (c) has been detected to be a foreigner; hall re(lister himself in accordance with the rules made by the central government in this, behalf udder section 18 with luch authority (hereafter in this sub-section referred to as the registering authority) as may be specified in such rules and if his name is included in any 30 ejectoral roll for any assembly or parliamentary constituency in force on the date "of such detection, his name shall be deleted therefrom ,~-j~ jji·ll:n,~ __ ·"' explanation-in the case of every person seeking registration under this sub-section, the opinion of the tribunal constituted under 35 the foreigners (tribunals) order, 1964 holding such person to be a foreigner, shall be deemed to be sufficient ·proof of the requirement under clause (c) of this sub-section and if any question arises as to whether such person complies with any other requirement under this bub-section, the registering authority shal1,-40 (0 if such opinion contains 'a finding with respec~ to such other requirement, decide the question in conformity with such finding; ' (ii) if such opinion does not contain a finding with respect to such other requirement, refer the question to a tribunal 45 constituted under the said order having jurisdiction in acardance with such rules as the central government may make in this behalf under section 18 and decide the question in conformity with the opinion received on such reference  the cil~:zenship (amendment) bill, 1985(to be/as introd :j"ced in li< sabha) 1 page 2 i line 20,--i2;: "persons" ~_  " perst'ln" 2 page 4, line 10,-aft~r "assam" 1!l~ "before the 1st january, 1966" 3 page 6, line 4-i!'! "before" ~ "after" new delhi; novbmber ~6 ~982 ka1~ika 2 - 1 07 csaka} 15 of 1987 5 (4) a person registered under sub-section (3) shall hllve, as from the elate on which he has been detected to be a foreigner and till the expiry of a period of ten years from that date, the same rights and obligations as a citizen of india (including the right to obtain a passport under the passports act, 1967 and the obligations connected therewith), but shall not be entitled to have his name included in any electoral roll for any assembly or parliamentary constituency at any time before the expiry of the said period of ten years 10 (5) a person registered under sub-section (3) shan be deemed to be a citizen of india for all purposes as from the date of expiry of a period of ten years from the date on which he has been detected to be a foreigner (6) without prejudice tc' the prnvisions of section 8,-15 (a) if any person referred to in sub-section (2) fubmits in the prescribed manner and form and to the prescribed authority within sixty days from the date of commencement of the citizenship (amendment) act, 1985, a declaration that he does not wish to be a citizen of india, such person shall not be deemed to have become a dtizen 1)£ india under that sub-section; 20 (b) if any person referred to in sub-section (3) submits in the prescrihed manner and form and to the prescribed authority within sixty days from th~ date of commencement of the citizenship (amendment) act, 1985 or from the date on which he has been detected to be a foreigner, whichever is later, a declaration that he does not wish to be governed by the provisions of that sub-section and sub-sections (4) and (5), it shall not be necessary ,for such person to register himself under sub-~ection (3) 30 e~lanation-where a person required to file a declaration under thi!'; sub-section does not have the capacity to enter into a contract, such declaration may be filed on his behalf by any person competent under the law for the time being in force to act on his behalf 35 '(7) nothing in sub-sections (2) to (6) shall apply in relation to any person-(a) who immediately before the commencement of the citizenship (amendment) act, 1985, is a citizen of india; 40 31 of 1946 (b) who was expelled from india before the commencement of the citizenship (amendment) act, 1985, under the foreignen act, 1946 (8) s3ve as otherwise e~pressly provided in this section, the provisions of this section shall have effect notwithstandin~ anything contained in any other law for the time being in force,", 45 3 in section 18 of the principal act, in sub-section (2), after clause adiend-(e), the following clause shall be inserted namely: _ ment of'sectlon 18 ii (ep) the manner and form in which and tht'" authority to whom decjarations referred to in clauses (a) and (b) of sub-section (ii) of section 6a shall be submitted and other matters connected with such de~lliraftions;"  statement of objects and reasonsthe core of the memorandum of settlement (auam accord) relates to the roreigners' issue, since the agitation launched by the aasu arose out of their apprehensions regarding the continuing influx of foreign nationals into assam and the fear about adverse effects upon the political, bocial, cultural and e::'onomic life of the state 2 assam accord being a political settlement, legislation is required to give effect to the relevant clauses of the assam accord relating to the foreigners' issue i "  :,  ,"  " 1',"' 3 it is intended that all persons of indian origin who came to assam (im:luding luch of those whose names were included in the electoral rolls used for the purpose of genera! election to the house of the people held in 1967) and who have been ordinarily resident in assam ever since shall be deemed to be citizens of india as from the 1st day of january, 1966 further, every person of indian origin who came on or after the 1st january, 1966 but before the 25th march, 1971 from territories presently included in bahgladesh and who has been ordinarily resident in assam ever since and who has been detected in accordance with the provisions of the foreigners act, 1946 and the foreigners (tribunals) order, 1964 shall, upon registration, be deemed to be a citizen for all purposes as from the date of expiry of a period ot ten years from the date of detection as a foreigner it is also intended that in the intervening period of 10 years, these persons should not suffer from any other disability vis-a-vis citizens, excepting the right to vote and that proper record should be maintained of such persons to inspire confidence, judicial element should be associated to determine eligibility in each and every case under this category 4 the bill seeks to aroend the cit\zenship act, 1955 to achieve the above objectives new detjli; arun nehru the 15th november, 1985  financial· memorandumclause 2 of the bill seeks to insert a new section 6a in the citizen-iship act, 1955 under sub-section (3) of the new section foreigners who came to assam trom erstwhile east pakistan, now bangladesh on or after the 1st january, 1966 but before the 25th march, 1971 who are detected in accordance with the provisions of the foreigners act, 1946 and the f'oreigners (tribunals) order, 1964 have to be registered in accordance with the rules made by the central government in this behalf as envisaged !n the assam accord, this will require strengthening of the machinery established for the purpose this will involve some expenditure from the consolidated fund of india however, it is not poss~ble at this stage to precisely quantify the expenditure t'1at is likely to be incurred on this account as this would depend upon the volume of the work which will be involved as no prectse information as to the number of people who came in duting th;s period is available, it is not possible to estimate the volume of work of detection and registration 2 the bill does not involve any other expenditure of a recurring or non-recurring nature  memorandum regarding delegated legislationsub-section (3) of new section 6a as directed to be inserted by clause 2 of the bill in the citizenship act, 1955 requires that every person of indian origin who has entered assam on or before the 1st day of january, 1966 but before the 25th day of march, 1971 from the territory now- comprised in bangladesh and who has since the date of entry into assam been ordinarily resident in assam and who has been detected to be a !foreigner, should register himseu, in accordance with such rules as the central government may make with s~h authority as may be specifted in those rules 2 sub-section (6) of the new section 6a seeks to enable a person who does not wish to be a citizen of india under the provisions of sub-section (1) of that section or, as the ('ase may be, to be ~verned by the provisions of sub-sections (3), (4) and (5) of that section to submit a declaration to that effect in the prescribed manner and form and to the prescribed authority 3 clause 3 of the bill seeks to make necessary consequential amendment in section 18 of the citizenship act, 1955 relating to the power to make rules 4 the matters in respect of which rules may be made under the aforementioned provisions pertain to matters of procedure and detail the delegation of legis~ative power is, therefore, of a normal character  annexure ex'dtact from the citizenship act, 1955 (57 of 1955)- - - - - - 18 (1) - - - - - power to make rules (2) in particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for-- - - - - -  billfurther to amend the citizenship act, 1955 (shri arun nehru, minister of state in the department of internal security) 