I think in regard to "Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder (OCI)" laws and rules, unlawful rules are being followed and the lawful rules are not being followed.

1. With reference to the information given at http://www.blsindia-canada.com/oci.php and the inference drawn from the public discussions, I conclude the following rules:

a) "the Government of India decided to grant Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) commonly known as ‘dual citizenship’. Persons of Indian Origin who migrated from India and acquired citizenship of a foreign country other than Pakistan and Bangladesh are eligible for grant of OCI as long as their home countries allow dual citizenship in some form under the local laws." (copy - paste from http://www.blsindia-canada.com/oci.php)

b) "A person registered as an OCI is eligible to apply for grant of Indian citizenship under section 5(1) (g) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 if he/she is registered as an OCI for five years and has been residing in India for one year out of the five years before making the application." (copy - paste from http://www.blsindia-canada.com/oci.php)

However, in my opinion the above does not seem to be true as it appears to be. The Citizenship Act, 1955, Section 5, sub-section (3) is as follows: "No person who has renounced, or has been deprived of, his Indian citizenship or whose Indian citizenship has terminated, under this Act shall be registered as a citizen of India under sub-section (1) except by order of the Central Government."

THUS SECTION 5(1) (g) DOES NOT SEEM TO APPLY TO Persons of Indian Origin having Indian citizenship in the past and who migrated from India and acquired citizenship of a foreign country, because as per the termination of citizenship rule written in the Citizenship Act, 1955, Section 9, sub-section (1): "Any citizen of India who by naturalisation, registration otherwise voluntarily acquires, or has at any time between the 26th January, 1950 and the commencement of this Act, voluntarily acquired the citizenship of another country shall, upon such acquisition or, as the case may be, such commencement, cease to be a citizen of India:"

However, for a person of Indian origin having Indian citizenship in the past and who migrated from India and acquired citizenship of a foreign country, if the person renounces his/her citizenship of a foreign country, it seems that he/she IMMEDIATELY qualifies to be a citizen of India as per the Citizenship Act, 1955, Section 3, Citizenship by birth or Section 4, Citizenship by descent. Is my conclusion correct?

2. Renunciation of Indian Citizenship as required for the application of "Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder (OCI)" - "Indian citizens acquiring any foreign citizenship on or after 1 June, 2010 must formally renounce Indian citizenship." (copy - paste http://www.blsindia-canada.com/renunciation_ppt.php): As per the termination of citizenship rule written in the Citizenship Act, 1955, Section 9, sub-section (1): "Any citizen of India who by naturalisation, registration otherwise voluntarily acquires, or has at any time between the 26th January, 1950 and the commencement of this Act, voluntarily acquired the citizenship of another country shall, upon such acquisition or, as the case may be, such commencement, cease to be a citizen of India:"

Thus in my opinion, it seems UNLAWFUL to renounce the Indian Citizenship by a person whose citizenship has already been terminated and who is NO MORE a citizen of India. NOT ONLY THIS, SECTION 17 SAYS "ANY PERSON WHO, FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROCURRING ANYTHING TO BE DONE OR NOT TO BE DONE UNDER THIS ACT, KNOWINGLY MAKES ANY REPRESENTATION WHICH IS FALSE IN A MATERIAL PARTICULAR SHALL BE PUNISHABLE WITH IMPRISONMENT FOR A TERM WHICH MAY EXTEND TO FIVE YEARS OR WITH FINE WHICH MAY EXTEND TO FIFTY THOUSAND RUPEES, OR WITH BOTH".

What to do in such cases? Any comment and/or guidance please?

India does not have dual citizenship. As soon as you acquire citizenship of another country, you lose Indian citizenship. It is just a paperwork to make you get "Surrender Certificate" when you automatically lose your citizenship upon acquiring citizenship of foreign country.

To get Indian citizenship, you will have to renounce foreign country's citizenship.

To renounce Canadian citizenship, you will probably have to prove you have another country's citizenship since renouncement cannot render you stateless.

For point 2, I do not know why it has not been challenged in Indian courts or if there is a case pending before courts. There have been many online petitions regarding this.

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