On Tuesday, March 19, the Supreme Court is set to hear a batch of petitions requesting the Centre to halt the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Rules, 2024, until the apex court resolves the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took cognizance of senior advocate Kapil Sibal’s submissions, representing the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), emphasizing that once Indian citizenship is granted to migrant Hindus, it cannot be revoked, thus warranting an early hearing.
The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, and its associated rules, introduced by the Centre and passed by Parliament, aim to provide Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who arrived in India before December 31, 2014.
Following the issuance of the rules under the CAA, the Kerala-based political party Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) promptly moved the Supreme Court seeking a stay on their implementation. Other parties and individuals, including the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), Assam’s leader of Opposition Debabrata Saika, and Congress MP Abdul Khaleque, have also submitted applications.
IUML’s application contends that the CAA establishes a “highly truncated and fast-tracked process” for granting citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from specific countries, constituting a “manifestly arbitrary and discriminatory” regime based solely on religious identity.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, expressed doubts about the petitioners’ standing, highlighting that there were 237 pending petitions against the CAA, with four interim applications seeking a stay on the implementation of the rules.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) remarked, “We will hear this on Tuesday. There are 190 plus cases. All of them will be heard. We will place a full batch with the IAs (Interim applications).”
In a related development, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi approached the Supreme Court against the CAA, seeking directions to the Centre not to process applications for citizenship status under Section 6B of the Citizenship Act, 1955, during the pending proceedings. Advocate Nizam Pasha, representing Owaisi, indicated that they had filed an application in 2019 when the act was passed in Parliament.
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