Delhi HC seeks to know status of plea in Allahabad HC over Rahul Gandhi’s citizenship

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the Centre to obtain a copy of a petition pending before the Allahabad High Court on the issue of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s citizenship.

The court said a petition on a similar issue is also being heard by the Allahabad High Court and two courts can’t deal with the same issue simultaneously.

The court said before proceeding further in the matter, it will be in the interest of justice to know the position about the pending petition in the Allahabad High Court.

“We read in the newspaper that Allahabad High Court is also seized of the controversy. Two courts cannot deal with the same issue simultaneously.

“You (Centre) check up the status of the petition at Allahabad High Court and also obtain a copy of the petition. We just want to be doubly sure that we are not taking over someone else's jurisdiction,” a bench of Chief Justice designate Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said.

The bench was hearing a plea by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy for directions to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to decide his representation seeking cancellation of Rahul Gandhi's Indian citizenship.

Swamy, in his plea, also sought a direction to the MHA to furnish a status report on the representation filed by him against Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

The plea, filed by advocate Satya Sabharwal, said that on August 6, 2019, Swamy had written a letter to the ministry alleging that Gandhi had "voluntarily disclosed" to the British government that he was a citizen of British nationality, amounting to holding a British passport.

During the hearing, the Centre’s counsel urged the court to grant some time to obtain a copy of the petition filed at the Allahabad High Court.

The bench listed the matter for further hearing on October 9.

On Wednesday, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court asked the Centre whether it has taken any decision on a representation filed under Citizenship Act, 1955 asking it to inquire into allegations that Gandhi has a British citizenship.

It was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) moved by BJP worker from Karnataka, S Vignesh Shishir, claiming that he has done detailed enquiries into the issue of Gandhi being a British citizen and has got several new inputs.

In his plea in the Delhi High Court, Swamy has said that the Congress leader, being an Indian citizen, has violated Article 9 of the Constitution, read with the Indian Citizenship Act, and would cease to be an Indian citizen He said he has sent many representations to the ministry inquiring about the status of his complaint but neither any action has been taken nor he has been intimated about it.