No stay on CAA
HCs barred from passing any order on the Act
5-Judge Constitution Bench in the offing
Centre gets four weeks to file its replies
SC will look into the Assam issue separately
Hearing a total of 144 petitions on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act – two in support and the rest in opposition – on Wednesday, 22 January, the Supreme Court refused to put a stay on the contentious law without hearing the Centre on the matter. It gave the government four weeks’ time to file its reply.
The apex court also hinted at setting up a larger Constitution Bench to hear the petitions, and in the meantime, barred all high courts from passing any order on the Act.
Further, the SC bench, headed by CJI SA Bobde, said it will look at the Assam issue separately, and that all the cases will be heard together.
The bench was hearing a batch of 142 pleas challenging the validity of CAA, including those filed by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.
Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, told the bench that the government has been given copies of around 60 pleas out of the 142 petitions.
He said it wanted time to respond to pleas which have not been served on it.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal urged the bench to put on hold operation of CAA and postpone exercise of the National Population Register (NPR) for the time being.
The court said it will not grant any stay on CAA without hearing the Centre on the matter.
The CAA seeks to grant citizenship to migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain and Parsi communities who came to the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before 31 December 2014.
President Ram Nath Kovind gave assent to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 on 12 December, turning it into an Act.
The IUML submitted in its plea that CAA violates the fundamental Right to Equality and intends to grant citizenship to a section of illegal immigrants by making an exclusion on the basis of religion.
The plea filed by Congress leader Ramesh, said the Act is a "brazen attack" on core fundamental rights envisaged under the Constitution and treats "equals as unequal".
Several petitions have been filed challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship Act, including RJD leader Manoj Jha, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi.
Several other petitioners include Muslim body Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, All Assam Students Union (AASU), Peace Party, CPI, NGOs 'Rihai Manch' and Citizens Against Hate, advocate M L Sharma, and law students have also approached the apex court challenging the Act.
(With PTI inputs)
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