The five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court of India (SC) on Wednesday said that it will hear the pleas challenging the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act relating to illegal immigrants in Assam on November 1.

The Bench comprising Justices D.Y. Chandrachud, M.R. Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and P.S. Narasimha listed the matter for hearing on November 1.

As per sources, senior advocate Indira Jaising had apprised the Constitution Bench that one of the ten questions of law referred to the bench was whether the delay in the hearing of the matter would affect vested interests. She suggested that the same can be decided as a preliminary issue.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, however, said that this would have to be considered as part of the larger issue of validity of Section 6A.

The Assam Accord was a Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) signed between representatives of the Government of India and the leaders of the Assam Movement. It was signed in the presence of then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in New Delhi on 15 August 1985.

Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955 was inserted by an amendment in 1985 of the Assam Accord, which classified ‘illegal’ immigrants of Indian origin who came into Assam from Bangladesh into three groups.

A set of 17 petitions have been filed before the Apex court between 2009 and 2018. In 2014, the SC referred several legal questions to a five-judge Constitution Bench. A bench had been constituted in 2017 to consider the matter but no hearing had taken place.