Registration — person of Indian origin resident in India 7y

Three elements must be satisfied for §5(1)(a): (1) Indian origin — per Explanation 2, the applicant or either parent was born in undivided India or in territory that became part of India after 15 August 1947; (2) ordinary residence in India for seven years before the application, operationalised by Explanation 1; and (3) the §5(1) chapeau conditions — the applicant is not an illegal migrant (§2(1)(b)) and is not already a citizen by virtue of the Constitution or the Act. A full-age applicant must take the oath of allegiance in the Second Schedule form before registration (§5(2)). A person who has previously renounced, been deprived of, or whose Indian citizenship has terminated under the Act cannot be registered under §5(1) except by order of the Central Government (§5(3)). The grant is discretionary: §14(1) provides that the prescribed authority or the Central Government may, in its discretion, grant or refuse an application under §§5, 6 and 7A and shall not be required to assign any reasons, subject to §15 revision and §15A review. A minor of a person eligible under §5 may be registered by the Central Government in special circumstances under §5(4).

A person of Indian origin applies to the Central Government in the prescribed manner for registration as a citizen under §5(1)(a). The Central Government examines whether the applicant meets the Indian-origin, seven-year-residence and chapeau conditions. If satisfied, it may register the person; the grant is discretionary and, under §14, need not be reasoned and is final subject to §15 revision (and §15A review), §14(2) providing that the decision shall not be called in question in any court. Before registration, a full-age applicant must take the Second Schedule oath of allegiance ('I.. do solemnly affirm (or swear) that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India...') per §5(2). Under §5(5), a person registered under §5 is a citizen of India by registration from the date on which he is so registered. The §5(3) prior-loss bar means a former citizen who renounced, was deprived of, or whose citizenship terminated cannot use this route except by a special Central Government order. Government registration fees and processing timelines are operational figures not asserted here.

Registration under section 5(1)(a) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 empowers the Central Government, on an application made in that behalf, to register as a citizen of India a person of Indian origin who is ordinarily resident in India for seven years before making the application. The whole of §5(1) — its chapeau and clauses (a)-(g) — is the text substituted by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003 (Act 6 of 2004), with effect from 3 December 2004; the same substitution raised the clause (a)/(c) residence figure from five years to seven years. The §5(1) chapeau imposes threshold conditions that govern every registration category: the applicant must not be an illegal migrant (§2(1)(b)), must not already be a citizen by virtue of the Constitution or of any other provision of the Act, and registration is subject to 'such other conditions and restrictions as may be prescribed'. 'Person of Indian origin' is defined by Explanation 2 to §5(1): a person is of Indian origin if he, or either of his parents, was born in undivided India or in such other territory which became part of India after 15 August 1947. 'Undivided India' is defined by §2(1)(h) as India as defined in the Government of India Act, 1935, as originally enacted.