PANJIM: The Union Home Ministry has called for a special meeting with Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on the dual citizenship on October 29.
Parrikar would be meeting Union Minister for Home Rajnath Singh and Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi. The meeting is expected to come out with a solution on the dual citizenship issue that is haunting over one lakh people, whose births are registered in Portugal.
Government is of the opinion that under section 8 of the Indian citizenship act, a person is deemed to be Indian citizen provided he does not renounce citizenship and also obtain citizenship of some other nation, sources said.
Government in a letter to former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had requested him to take up the issue of dual citizenship with the Portuguese government and make necessary provision to delete the clause in Portuguese law which makes those who were born in Goa before Liberation as Portuguese citizens.
Goa was a former Portuguese colony which was liberated and annexed in 1961.
The Indian Constitution does not allow dual citizenship, if you voluntarily become the citizen of another country, but the word “voluntarily” is important.
The issue of dual citizenship is haunting the government after two ruling MLAs-Glen Ticklo and Caetano Silva are alleged to have dual citizenship.
There are cases wherein births (of Goans born before 1961) have been registered in Portugal by third person or some agent, without their knowledge.
