IUML moves SC seeking stay on CAA a day after Centre notifies rules

The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) on Tuesday (March 12) moved the Supreme Court challenging the Centre’s decision to notify rules for the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Stating that the legislation was “unconstitutional” and “discriminatory” against the Muslim community, the Kerala-based outfit has urged the top court to stay CAA and rules under it. The outfit has also pleaded the Supreme Court to ensure that no coercive steps be taken against people from the Muslim community who have been kept out of the ambit of the benefits the law promises.

CAA promises to grant Indian citizenship to undocumented non-Muslims who faced persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and migrated to India on or before December 31, 2014.

‘CAA violates Article 14’

“Since the CAA discriminates on the basis of religion, it strikes at the root of secularism, which is the basic structure of the Constitution…India’s constitutional framework, read with obligations under the international law, mandates a framework of refugee protection that is non-discriminatory,” IUML said in its petition.

In its petition, the outfit argues that the legislation violates Article 14 of the Constitution that promises right to equality, as it doesn’t include Muslims in the list of beneficiaries.

The IUML is one of the first political outfits to have challenged the law when it was passed in 2019. It had earlier sought a stay on the legislation. However, the Centre had then told the Supreme Court that the law will not come into force are the rules governing it were yet to be notified.

250 petitions pending with SC

In its latest plea, IUML has pleaded the apex court to put the implementation of the CAA rules under hold until the Supreme Court gives its ruling on the 250 pending petitions that have challenged the constitutional validity of the law.

The petition said that if the Supreme Court after hearing the 250 petitions concludes that the CAA is unconstitutional, then people who would have got Indian citizenship under the legislation would be stripped of the same.

“If this court finally decided that CAA is unconstitutional, people who would have received the citizenship under this Act will have to be stripped of their citizenships. Therefore, it is in the best interest of everyone to defer the implementation of CAA and impugned rules till this hon’ble court finally decides the matter,” it said.