Supreme Court to hear pleas to stay CAA implementation

The Supreme Court on Friday (March 15) agreed to hear pleas seeking a fiat to the Central government to stay the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Rules, 2024 until the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 are decided.

A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said this after taking note of the submissions of senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who took up the case for the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).

IUML case

The IUML argued that once citizenship is granted to migrant Hindus, it cannot be taken back and hence the issues needed an early hearing.

“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),” Chief Justice Chandrachud said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said there were 237 petitions and in those pending ones, four interim applications have been filed against the implementation of the rules.

Coercive action

The applications were filed after the Centre implemented the Citizenship (Amendment) Act by notifying the rules, four years after the controversial legislation was passed by parliament to fast-track citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.

The application, filed by the IUML, one of the petitioners who have challenged the citizenship law, has sought the court's direction to ensure no coercive action is taken against people belonging to the Muslim community pending adjudication of the writ petitions.

Muslims cannot apply for Indian citizenship under the CAA.