The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned the petitions challenging the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 to December 6, 2022. The bench comprising Chief Justice UU Lalit, Justices Ravindra Bhat and Bela M. Trivedi treated the plea filed by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) as the lead matter.
The bench also appointed two lawyers as nodal counsels who will ensure that the compilations are ready by the next date.
"We have been appraised that the writ petition filed by IUML has been completed. The petition has been filed by advocate Pallavi Pratap. We, therefore, appoint her and Kanu Agarawal as nodal counsels," the bench said.
The bench also granted time to the States of Assam and Tripura to file their responses to the latest affidavit filed by the Centre with regard to the issues of North-Eastern region.
Of the 232 pleas challenging the CAA before the court, nearly 50 were specific to Assam and other North-Eastern states.
The CAA that grants Indian citizenship to non-Muslim migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain, and Parsi communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who have come to the country till 2014, had been criticized by many over the exclusion of Muslims.
Meanwhile, the Centre on Sunday urged the Supreme Court to dismiss pleas challenging the validity of the CAA, stressing that the law does not encourage illegal migration in Assam or any future influx of foreigners in the country.
It also vehemently defended the exclusion of certain areas of Assam and other Northeastern states from the application of the CAA, saying it has been done to protect the ethnic/linguistic rights of the natives and this was not discriminatory.
The affidavit said that the law is narrowly tailored and only those migrants belonging to the six specified communities from the three countries who had entered into India on or before December 31, 2014 will be covered by the provisions of this Amendment Act.