Hearing pleas seeking a stay on the Citizenship Amendment Act and CAA rules, the Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Centre and asked it to respond within three weeks. The apex court has posted the matter for hearing on April 9.
The time was granted by a bench comprising Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, and Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought time to respond to pleas filed before the court. As many as 237 applications have been filed before the Court and 20 pleas have been filed seeking a stay. The applications have sought a stay on the rules till the apex court disposes of the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.
The Solicitor General informed the Court that CAA does not take away anyone’s citizenship. Senior advocate Indira Jaising sought SG’s assurance that citizenship would not be granted to any applicant until a verdict is passed on the case. Advocate Nizam Pasha argued that there would be prejudice against Muslims left out of the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The bench also appointed separate nodal counsel for the clutch of petitions relating to the states of Assam and Tripura. Advocate Ankit Yadav was appointed for the petitioners' side while Advocate Kanu Agarwal was appointed for the respondents, LiveLaw reported.
The Centre had on March 11 paved the way for the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, with the notification of the relevant rules, four years after the contentious law was passed by Parliament to fast-track Indian citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.
-with agency inputs.