NEW DELHI: Congress MP Shantaram Naik on Friday introduced a private Bill in the Rajya Sabha to undo the mischief of a 2006 order of the Portuguese government offering registration of births in Portugal to the residents of its erstwhile territories of Goa, Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
All those who rushed to grab the offer to have free movement in the Europe and for an easy access to foreign universities for their wards, face the loss of Indian citizenship as Indian laws do not allow dual citizenship.
Hardly any of them may have ever seen Portugal, Naik said while explaining his Bill that seeks to amend Section 9 of the Citizenship Act to protect these hapless people from losing the Indian citizenship, except for those voluntarily applying for the Portugal citizenship with an intent to renounce the citizenship of India.
The Bill introduces a proviso to protect such persons whose number may run into thousands. It reads “Provided further that no citizen of India, shall be deemed to have lost his citizenship merely, merely on grounds of his or her availing the facility conferred by the order enacted by Portuguese Government, of registering their births in Portugal, to the Indians citizens, residing in the territory of erstwhile Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu or the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, then ruled by the Government of Portugal, unless such Indian citizens voluntarily apply for the citizenship of that country with specific intention of renouncing the citizenship of India.”
In a statement of objects and reasons for bringing the Bill, Naik says it will take care of the facility of birth registration offered by Portugal to the people born in “Estado da Índia”, i.e. Goa, Daman & Diu, prior to 19.12.1961, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli, prior to 21.08.1954, whose births were registered in the Civil Registration Offices of these territories.
Naik pointed out that two MLAs of Goa are already facing disqualification for registering their births in Portugal, with the Home Ministry already declaring one of them ceasing to be an Indian citizen and another MLA also locked in litigation. Indicating that his Bill is not to rescue these MLAs as the legal consequences will follow in their case as per the existing law, he said his concern is about a large number of people registering their births in Portugal in the last 7-8 years to save them from ceasing to be Indians.
