Supreme Court To Hear 143 Petitions On Citizenship Amendment Act Today

According to reports, while most of the petitions filed in the apex court challenge the constitutional validity of the newly passed legislation, some of them seek a declaration that the act is constitutional.

Some of the petitions filed in Supreme Court also sought a stay on the operation of the legislation. (File Photo/ Getty)

New Delhi: A bench of three Supreme Court judges will today hear as many as 143-old petitions that have been filed regarding the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which has irked nationwide protests including the national capital. A bench, headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde, which had issued notice to the Centre on December 18 on various pleas is likely to hear a batch of 143 petitions, including those filed by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh. According to reports, while most of the petitions filed in the apex court challenge the constitutional validity of the newly passed legislation, some of them seek a declaration that the act is constitutional. Some of the petitions filed later have also sought a stay on the operation of the legislation which came into force on January 10. Reacting to the petitions filed against the amended Citizenship law, Centre had also subsequently filed a transfer petition seeking transfer of CAA-related cases from high courts to the Supreme Court. ALSO WATCH | Lucknow: Controversy Over Involvement Of Children In CAA Protests The apex court had on January 9 refused to entertain a plea seeking that the CAA be declared constitutional, saying the country is going through difficult times and there is so much violence that endeavour should be for peace. IUML said in its plea that CAA violates the fundamental Right to Equality and intends to grant citizenship to a section of illegal immigrants by making an exclusion on the basis of religion.  President Ram Nath Kovind gave assent to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 on December 12, turning it into an Act. IUML seeks an interim stay on the operation of CAA and the Foreigner Amendment (Order), 2015 and Passport (Entry Into Rules), Amendment Rules, 2015. The petition had alleged that the government's CAA was against the basic structure of the Constitution and intended to explicitly discriminate against Muslims as the Act extended benefits only to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians. The plea filed by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, said the Act is a "brazen attack" on core fundamental rights envisaged under the Constitution and treats "equals as unequal". Several petitions have been filed challenging the constitutional validity of the CAA, including by RJD leader Manoj Jha, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi. Several other petitioners include Muslim body Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, All Assam Students Union (AASU), Peace Party, CPI, NGOs 'Rihai Manch' and Citizens Against Hate, advocate M L Sharma, and law students have also approached the apex court challenging the Act. CAA seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain and Parsi communities who came to the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014.