PANAJI
A recent High Court order on the citizenship of a Goan woman born in Uganda in 1963, to Goan parents, could have a bearing on the revocation of the Indian passport issue affecting a section of Goans.
The Court, acknowledging petitioner Lourdes Jennifer Lobo’s lineage, criticized the Central government for denying citizenship. The order will now pave the way for her to obtain Indian passport after years of struggle.
Lourdes was refused a passport by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Regional Passport Office citing she is not an Indian citizen. The High Court of Bombay at Goa, which heard the matter extensively for over a year, asserted that all persons born in the territory of Goa before December 20, 1961, should be recognized as Indian citizens.
The petitioner was born in Kampala in Uganda, on June 3, 1963 while her father Eleutrio Antonio Caitano Dias e Lobo was born on September 14, 1921, at Raia (Salcete) and mother Maria Ana Mariam Ofelia Coutinho on September 7, 1927, at Navelim. It was in 1965 that Lourdes travelled to Goa with her mother via sea.
In her petition, she noted that the birth certificate indicates both her parents’ names with their nationality recorded as “Portuguese citizen.”
While she completed her education and took up a teaching job in June 1990, Lourdes obtained an Aadhaar card in November 2011, a PAN card, and an election card, all specifying her residence as Goa.
The matter escalated when in 2019, Maria mother obtained an Indian passport but when Lourdes applied for one at the Regional Passport Office in Panaji, her application was rejected under Section 6(2)(a) of the Passports Act, 1967, on the grounds that she was not an Indian citizen.
Her appeal before the Appellate Authority was also dismissed in April 2020 based on her birth certificate indicating her parents as 'Portuguese Citizens' and the provisions of the Goa, Daman and Diu (Citizenship) Order, 1962, which deemed her not a citizen of India since she was born outside the Indian territory.
Challenging these decisions in the High Court, Lourdes submitted that her Indian citizenship is evidenced by her mother's possession of an Indian passport. During the hearing, she also contended that the Customs Authority’s certificate, which does not specify whether her mother travelled on an Indian Authorities-issued passport or not, should not affect her recognition as an Indian citizen.
The Central government, on the other hand, maintained that authorities took the right decision based on her birth certificate stating her parents as ‘Portuguese Citizens.’
While pronouncing the verdict this month, the Bench of Justice M S Sonak and Justice Vamiki Menezes referred to the provisions in Section 4 of the Citizenship Act, highlighting that a person born outside India on or after January 26, 1950, and before December 10, 1992, shall be a citizen of India by descent if their father holds Indian citizenship at the time of their birth. The provision further confers citizenship by descent on persons born outside India on or after December 10, 1992, if either of his parents is a citizen of India at the time of his birth.
Furthermore, the court pointed out Section 7 of the Citizenship Act which speaks about granting citizenship to persons through the incorporation of territory.
“If any territory becomes a part of India, the Central Government may, by order notified in the Official Gazette, specify the persons who shall be citizens of India by reason of their connection with that territory; and those persons shall be citizens of India as from the date to be specified in the order,” reads the provision under the title ‘Citizenship by incorporation of territory.’
These ruled the order in the woman’s favour with the Court stating she was a citizen of India by descent in terms of the Citizenship order, and her parents, both being citizens of India by birth.
“The Appellate Authority appears to have referred to the Citizenship order, but erroneously interprets its provisions to mean that the declaration referred to in the order, was one to be given by all persons who were opting for Indian Citizenship. This interpretation is diametrically opposed to the plain meaning of the provisions of the order which require only persons intending to retain their original Citizenship to execute such a declaration. All other persons born in the territory of Goa prior to December 20, 1961 would be deemed to be Indian citizens,” it said allaying apprehensions surrounding the citizenship issue.
The Court thus cited that the Central government’s claim was unsubstantiated, considering Lourdes’ citizenship by descent. “…the further conclusion that her Citizenship requires to be determined by the Ministry of Home Affairs is also uncalled for and without any basis in any provision of law,” it added.
As a result, the Court quashed and set aside both Central orders that rejected the petitioner's application and directed the Regional Passport Office to proceed with issuing her an Indian Passport.
