Bombay High Court asks Centre to decide on Pakistan national's citizenship plea by December 19

The Bombay high court on Tuesday gave the Centre time until December 19 to inform the status on the citizenship application filed by Siraj Khan, a Pakistani who entered India when he was 18 years old and is now living in Wadala with his wife and children.

A division bench of justices VK Tahilramani and AK Menon directed the union government to place on record the decision on Khan's application filed in June with the Mumbai collector. HC has stayed Khan's deportation till then.

Advocate Tanveer Nizam, arguing for Khan, placed on record the application filed seeking Indian citizenship, to which public prosecutor S Shinde said he did not have instructions about the same and sought time to do so.
Khan has sought a stay on an order of the Foreigner Regional Registration Office deporting him on the ground that he is a Pakistani; his wife Sajida and their three children are Indians and, hence, only they have fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India.

The family's fundamental and statutory right is that their basic needs of food, shelter, education, and health care, among other things, is taken care of by Siraj, and not letting him work amounted to depriving them of those rights, Khan has contended.