SC declines PIL for citizenship to overseas Indians

The Supreme Court on Monday declined a public interest litigation seeking citizenship for the overseas Indians who have acquired foreign nationality, saying the petitioner has no locus standi to make such a plea.

While declining the plea by senior journalist S. Venkat Narayan, the apex court bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice Arun Mishra, however, said it was open to the affected people to approach the court to raise their grievances.

The court told petitioner Venkat Narayan that "PIL was never started by us for these purposes. It was for the poor people who can't afford to approach the court to secure their rights".

While declining the PIL, the court said: "However, it would not come in the way of affected people approaching the court."

The petitioner contended that he had travelled to over 60 countries and there were 50 million Indians who are deprived of their rights on account of a "legal fiction" in the Citizenship Act.