Supreme Court's CAA hearing LIVE: Top court hears petitions challenging Citizenship Act

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Wednesday a batch of pleas seeking to examine the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). A bench, comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Sanjiv Khanna, which had issued notice to the Centre on various pleas, is likely to hear over 140 petitions.

Some of the petitions filed later have also sought a stay on the operation of the legislation which came into force on January 10. On January 9, the Supreme Court had refused to entertain a plea seeking that the CAA be declared constitutional, saying the country is going through difficult times and there is so much violence that endeavour should be for peace. President Ram Nath Kovind gave assent to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 on December 12, turning it into an Act.

What is the petition filed by IUML?

IUML said 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. IUML seeks an interim stay on the operation of CAA and the Foreigner Amendment (Order), 2015 and Passport (Entry Into Rules), Amendment Rules, 2015. The petition had alleged that the government's CAA was against the basic structure of the Constitution and intended to explicitly discriminate against Muslims as the Act extended benefits only to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians.

What is in the petition filed by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh?

The plea filed by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the Act is a "brazen attack" on core fundamental rights envisaged under the Constitution and treats "equals as unequal". Ramesh said the substantial questions of law, including whether religion can be a factor to either acquire or deny citizenship in India, arises for consideration of the court as it is a "patently unconstitutional" amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955.

Kerala govt's plea in SC

The Kerala government has also moved the Supreme Court against the CAA, stating that the act violates "Articles 14, 21, and 25 of the Constitution of India". It went on to state that it is violative of the basic structure principle of secularism as well. Kerala government is the first state government to move the top court against the amendment Citizenship Act. The Kerala government's petition argues that CAA is discriminatory because it covers only a class of minorities from a class of countries sharing borders with India and to which and from there have been trans-border migration. 

Other petitions

Several petitions have been filed challenging the constitutional validity of the CAA, including by 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.

Anti-CAA resolution

The Kerala government became the first state govt to pass a resolution against CAA. On its heels, the Punjab government too passed a resolution demanding to scrap the contentious law. Next, Rajasthan and West Bengal have declared it will pass a resolution against the law on January 24, the first day of its next session. Several states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh,  Telangana, and other non-BJP states are mulling the same, while openly opposing CAA-NRC-NPR.

What is the Citizenship Amendment Act?

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain and Parsi communities who came to the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014. President Ram Nath Kovind gave assent to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 on December 12, turning it into an Act.

While hearing, the CJI says Supreme Court will have to see whether it should first wait for 99% petitions to be filed. in its response, the A-G says Supreme Court can freeze the filings for now and the centre can file a response on all 144 petitions. Sibal asks for the implementation of the act to be postponed for 2 months. SC says the order cannot be passed without listening to all sides.

Supreme Court does not put stay the #CAA and #NPR process. Court indicates setting up of Constitution Bench to hear the petitions challenging CAA. The bench will work out the schedule for hearing the cases and take up the cases after 5 weeks to pass interim orders.

Meanwhile CJI also says that Assam and Tripura matters will be clubbed together to be dealt with separately. The Court asks Sibal to assist in identifying these matters. "Issue notice on all matters. AG seeks time to reply. 4 weeks for reply. After that, we will list it for orders. Give us a list of all the categories of matters. Small matters we can hear in the chamber," the CJI says as the court ends hearing.