NO STAY ON CAA
notified more than four years after the law received the presidential assent in December 2019. “The problem is that if any citizenship is granted, it will be an irreversible step. This process cannot be allowed to start. If they have delayed it for four years, they can wait for some more time,” he added.
As Mehta voiced his opposition, the bench questioned the law officer about any steps taken after the regulations were announced on March 11. “It is a three-tier system. Any request goes through the district committee, empowered committee and then the central government. My first submission will remain that whether anyone is granted or not granted, none of the petitioners is affected because of these rules,” replied Mehta.
While Mehta asked for four weeks to respond to multiple petitions and applications in the matter, the court granted him three weeks to do so, fixing the next hearing on April 9.
As the hearing came to an end, Jaising made a fervent request if the bench stated in its order that any citizenship granted before the next date of hearing would be subject to the final decision of the court.
But the bench retorted: “They are opposing...They don’t even have the infrastructure in place...we will hear this on the next date.”
The court was hearing separate applications filed by Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi, Kerala government, Assam Congress leader Debabrata Saikia, and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), among others, seeking a stay on the CAA rules.
Four years after the controversial law was passed to fasttrack citizenship to non-Muslims who entered India from the three neighbouring countries on or before December 31, 2014, the Centre notified the rules on March 11.
Announcing the notification, which was expected after several ministers and officials over the past few months said that the rules would be released before this summer’s general elections, Union home minister Amit Shah said on X: “The Modi government notified the Citizenship (amendment) rules, 2024. These rules will now enable minorities persecuted on religious grounds in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to acquire citizenship in our nation... With this notification, PM Shri @narendramodi Ji has delivered on another commitment and realised the promise of the makers of our constitution to the Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians living in those countries.”
The announcement of the rules, in keeping with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) promise in its 2019 manifesto, was criticised by Opposition parties who said the timing of the notification is linked to the coming elections. The law itself was passed in December 2019, but the underlying rules were not framed. Its passage resulted in protests, which petered out only with the Covid-19 pandemic, and a clutch of petitions that remain before the Supreme Court.
A clutch of over two hundred connected petitions, filed in the top court since 2019, have challenged various CAA provisions on grounds of religious discrimination against Muslims and arbitrariness.
The petitioners include Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, the Indian Union Muslim
League, and its MPs, Lok Sabha MP and AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, RJD leader Manoj Jha, TMC MP Mahua Moitra, All Assam Students’ Union and Tripura royal scion Pradyot Kishore Deb Barman.
Responding to these petitions, the Centre’s affidavit in October 2022 stated that the legality of the CAA may not be within the scope of judicial review since matters of citizenship and foreign policy fall squarely within the domain of Parliament.