NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a notice to Centre seeking its reply on the pleas seeking a stay on the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 by April 8, three-weeks from today (March 19).
A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, and comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, posted the matter for the next hearing on April 9.
The Centre, through Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, has asked for more time to file its response. Centre said that it needs four weeks to file a reply to the pleas.
The pleas in the Supreme Court have sought a stay on the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules till the top court disposes of the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of CAA 2019.
The Solicitor General told the SC bench that the newly-notified citizenship law (CAA) “does not take away citizenship of any person”.
On March 11, the Centre notified the rules for the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019. This came four years after it was passed by Parliament.
The CAA law grants citizenship to undocumented migrants of all religions — except Muslims — from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who arrived in India before December 31, 2014.
The Supreme Court was hearing a cluster of about 200 petitions challenging CAA’s implementation.
The petitioners have claimed that the CAA discriminates against the Muslim community. It has been argued that this religious segregation is unreasonable and infringes on Article 14’s right to quality.
A petitioner in favour of the law and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay told news agency PTI that there are a total of 237 petitions related to the CAA, of which 236 PILs are against it.
“The petitions opposing the CAA have alleged that excluding Muslims of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh is a violation of Article 14. They have filed a fresh application, demanding stay on the implementation of CAA,” Upadhyay said.
“On behalf of the central government, the Attorney General and Solicitor General have opposed this. The Supreme Court has given three weeks’ time to the Centre and the next hearing is on April 9,” he told PTI.
Several Muslim organizations and political parties moved the Supreme Court today seeking a stay on the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), TMMK , Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK) All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) are some of the leading petitioners who knocked at Supreme Court challenging the CAA