The Supreme Court on Wednesday, 17 December, issued a notice to Centre on a total of 59 PILs challenging the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and refused to stay the implementation of the new provision.
The case was being heard by a bench of CJI SA Bobde along with Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant.
They also refused a request by BJP leader Ashwani Upadhyay asking for a direction to publish facts and dispel doubts about the Act.
The case will be heard next on 22 January, when the Court will decide if a stay can be issued.
More than a dozen senior advocates appeared for the petitioners while Centre had its law officers standing.
Meanwhile in the hearing, when many senior advocates started arguing at the same time, AG Venugopal said that the Indian Supreme Court could emulate the practice in Pakistan Supreme Court where only one podium is before the judges and only one lawyer at a time could argue.
The top court, however, agreed with Ashwini Upadhyay that there is a lot of confusion regarding provisions of CAA which has led to confusion and protests nationwide.
Venugopal also stated that the CAA provisions will be widely circulated through audio visual mediums.
The Act will provide Indian nationality to several religious groups, which include Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists, except Muslims, fleeing persecution in countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
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