Parliament to regulate the right of citizenship by law

Article 6, Draft Constitution of India 1948

Parliament may, by law, make further provision regarding the acquisition and termination of citizenship and all other matters relating thereto.

Article 11, Constitution of India 1950

Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this Part shall derogate from the power of Parliament to make any provision with respect to the acquisition and termination of citizenship and all other matters relating to citizenship.

Draft Article 6 (Article 11) was debated on 10, 11 and 12 August 1949. It gave Parliament the power to make citizenship related laws.

The Chairman of the Drafting Committee introduced this Draft Article. He stated that the Assembly was not tasked with making a permanent citizenship law, instead it aimed to settle key principles that would govern citizenship at the time of commencement of the Constitution. The future Parliament, he continued, had the prerogative to make a comprehensive citizenship code. He further clarified that the Parliament was not bound by the preceding articles, and could further restrict or regulate citizenship. One member was not convinced. He did not want the Parliament’s power to legislate on citizenship to be unfettered. He proposed to add a qualifier: Parliament should not be allowed to grant equal citizenship rights to nationals of a foreign country which denies equal treatment to Indians.

The Assembly did not accept any amendments and adopted Draft Article 6 as introduced by the Drafting Committee on 12 August 1949.