CCA Act: Apex Court Scheduled to Hear Pleas Seeking Stay on CAA, Its Rules on March 19
(Judicial Quest News Network)
The Apex Court is Scheduled to hear on March 19 a clutch of pleas demanding that the rules for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, be Stayed.
The Centre had notified earlier this week the the implementation of CAA Act and its ruleswhich fast-track the grant of Indian Citizenship to Non-Muslim migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud agreed to list the batch of over 200 petitions along with fresh applications on March 19 after senior counsel Kapil Sibal mentioned the matter,pressing for an urgent hearing.
The Act was enacted in 2019. They wait for four-and-a-half year s and notify the rules just days ahead of the Lok sabha elections.. once the process of grant of citizenship starts under this Act, it cannot be reversed. Please hear our applications for stay; Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal urged a three-judge bench headed by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud in an oral mentioning of the case on Friday.
These petitions have been pending since 2019. Earlier, we did not press for a stay Kapil Sibal appearing for the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).
IUML is the primary petitioner in the lead case that has 237 separate petitions challenging the legality of CAA on the ground that it discriminates in granting citizenship on the basis of religion. The Democratic Youth Federaation of India (DYFI), represnetd by Advocate Subhas Chandran K.R has also filed an application seeking an interim stay on implementation of the law.
Representing the Centre, solicitor general Tushar Mehta said that he has difficulty if the court hears the case on any suitable day.He further said that it is absolutely the prerogative of the court however, none of these petitioners have the Locus Standi to say whether or not the centre can grant citizenship that may be kept in mind… Whether it’s now the first day or the last day before the General elections,
The court said all 237 petitions would be listed on March 19.
The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) is an organization of youth formed in the year 1980. It inherits the progressive, patriotic, secular and democratic aspirations of the people who fought for the country’s independence.
The petitioner (DYFI) raises seminal important questions related to the promulgation of Citizenship (Amendemnt), Act2019, wherein first time religion is introduced as a reference point/ condition for acquisition of Indian Citizenship for illegal/ undocumented migrants from Afghanistan, Banglaadesh, and Pakistan. The citizenship being extended to certain illegal/undocumented migrants belonging to the religion of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsisand Christians coming from tose countries,
The rules have done away with the independing and tiered scrutiny of applications of citizenship by District Collectors on the ground, and recommendations of State governments as to the wisdom of granting citizenship to the applicants have been done away with.
The scrutiny of the application for registrationor naturalisationwas held at three levels –The Collector, the Stae Government,and the Central Government.It is ultimately the Central governmentthat made the decision to grant citizenship. The application said.
The CAA rules 2024 grants the power of scrutiny to Disrict level committee to verify documents and administer the oath allegiance .An empowered committee has been authorised to also scrutinise the citizenship applications but it is not mandatory.
There is no scope for the state government to give recommendations or for the central governmentto conduct an inquiry about the suitability of the applicant.
