Hyderabad: The government of India on Wednesday declared that Dr Ramesh Chennamaneni, a sitting MLA of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) from Vemulawada constituency in Karimnagar district, was not a citizen of India and had not set high standard of morality by claiming citizenship in violation of rules.
It it was not conducive to public good that Dr Chennamaneni continues to be a citizen of India, the union home ministry said.
While rejecting the objections of the MLA with regard to an order passed earlier with regard to his citizenship, the under secretary of the union home ministry, passed an order holding that “his misrepresentation / concealment of fact misled the government of India in making its decision initially in granting citizenship. Had he revealed the fact that he had not resided in India for one year before making the application, the competent authority in this ministry would not have granted citizenship to him.”
The order said that as a public representative, the TRS MLA had greater responsibility to be fair in making submissions and his conduct should set an example to people whom he represents.
While declaring that Dr Chennamaneni was not a citizen of India, the home ministry citied the order of the Supreme Court in the case of Union of India versus Association for Democratic Reforms, wherein it was held, “In a democratic form of government, an MP or MLA has a higher duty to the public. It is a well-known canon of law that Caesar’s wife should be above suspicion.”
The Supreme Court ruling further said, “If a person misrepresents to become a citizen of India, the harm to society that such a person can bring to public good by misrepresentation and concealment can be imagined.”
The home ministry said that as a member of the Legislative Assembly, he was part of the august body which takes decisions affecting fate of millions of citizens. “Any misrepresentation or concealment of fact at that level would certainly be not conducive to public good. If deprivation in this case is not held on grounds that he is not involved in terrorism, espionage, serious organised crime or war crime, it would become a precedent and many more such persons may obtain Indian citizenship by concealing material facts and by misleading the government of India.”
The home ministry deprived Chennamaneni of his Indian Citizenship under section 10 of the Citizenship Act, 1955, by ministry’s order on August 31, 2017, on grounds that he had obtained the certificate of Indian citizenship by playing fraud upon the government of India and concealing a crucial material fact – his visits to Germany during the last 12 months immediately preceding his application for Indian citizenship.
