CAA Notification Case: SC Refuses To Stay Implementation, Asks Centre To File Reply By April 9

The Supreme Court on Tuesday started hearing the 200 plus petitions filed against the contentious law Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

237 petitions have been filed in the top court concerning the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA) and the recently notified Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024.

Source : PTI

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay the implementation of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the rules till next hearing on April 9, saying that the government does not even have the infrastructure to implement the CAA rules, so how will they grant any citizenship till April 9.

 

The top court heard the 200 plus petitions filed against the contentious CAA and the rules notified by the Centre to implement them. The apex court issued notices in the cases where notices were not issued earlier and directed the Centre file a response by April 9. The court further asked the petitioners to file a consolidated application through nodal counsel by April 2. 

 

“Let submissions be made on the stay application limited to 5 pages till April 2. Let respondents(Centre) file a 5 page reply to the application by April 8. So we will have all the essential arguments a day before the hearing," said CJI DY Chandrachud while passing an order.

 

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for Centre requested the top court to grant some time to file a reply. "There are 237 petitions. 20 intervention applications have been filed for stay. I need to file a reply. I was seeking time. I need time to collate..." the SG submitted in the top court.

 

The petitioners requested the top court to stay the implementation of Rules untill the petitions are heard. 

 

SG Mehta said that the CAA does not take away citizenship of anyone. There is no prejudice caused to the petitioners. What is done is, those who have migrated...no new person is given citizenship, only those who entered before 2014.

 

At this point Senior Advocate Indira Jaisingh appearing for petitioners said is the (SG appearing for Centre) making a statement that pending the hearing no one would be given citizenship? If he is making that statement, a lot of time will be saved.

SG Mehta told the court that the Centre will not make any such statements.

Jaising further told the court that the matter should be referred to a larger bench. She also later pressed the court to stay implementation of CAA as once Indian citizenship is granted it cannot be taken back. However, the CJI DY Chandrachud responded to Jaisingh, "how will they implement the rules till April 9, when they don't have an infrastructure in place.."

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra heard the case today and issued notices in petitions where notices were not sent yet.

 

237 petitions have been filed in the top court concerning the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA) and the recently notified Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024.

 

Earlier, the top court took note of the submissions of Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), that once Indian citizenship has been granted to a migrant Hindu, it cannot be taken back. 

 

The Centre brought in CAA to confer Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before December 31, 2014.

Prominent names among the 200 plus petitioners who have moved the top court against CAA include Tarun Gogoi, Mahua Moitra, Asaduddin Owaisi, Manoj Kumar Jha, Tehseen S Poonawalla, Harsh Mander.

The Kerala government has also challenged the CAA and rules notified by the Centre.

The CPI, CPI Marxist, Asom Gana Parishad, DMK, Tripura People Front also have challenged the CAA.

One of the petitioners, IUML, has told the apex court that they had filed a writ petition against the CAA on the day it got the President's assent in December 2019. Following which the Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre seeking its response. The Centre had then told the top court that since rules have not been made, implementation will not take place. The writ petition has been pending for 4.5 years.

The petition says that the CAA Rules, 2024 create a highly truncated and fast-tracked process for grant of citizenship to persons covered under the exemption created by Sections 2 (1)(b) of Citizenship Act.

It further states that since the CAA discriminates on the basis of religion, it strikes at the root of the concept of secularism, which is the basic structure of the Constitution. "Therefore, one way of looking at implementation of the act would be to make it religion neutral and give citizenship to all migrants irrespective of their religious status."

The petition urges the Supreme Court to pass an order staying the implementation of the CAA rules 2024 till the writ petition is pending in the top court.

It has also urged the top court to stay the operation of section 6B in CAA 2019 pertaining to grant of citizenship to persons belonging to only certain religions.

Recently, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officially notified the implementation of the CAA, paving the way for fast-tracking citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. Under the provisions of the CAA, Indian citizenship will be granted to six minority communities - Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, and Parsis - who arrived in India before December 31, 2014, from these three neighboring countries.

Following this notification, a slew of such petitions and IAs were filed challenging the CAA notification.