The contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) will come up for hearing in the Supreme Court on Monday when it reopens after a nine-day Diwali vacation.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Uday Umesh Lalit, Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi has listed for hearing as many as 232 petitions, mostly PILs, on October 31 on the issue of the CAA alone.
However, the Centre on Sunday urged the court to dismiss the pleas. Earlier, the Bench headed by CJI Lalit, who is scheduled to demit office on November 8, had said that the pleas challenging the CAA will be referred to a three-judge Bench.
The 2019 amended law seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain, and Parsi communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who have come to the country till 2014.
The Opposition has opposed the legislation over the exclusion of Muslims, terming it partisan and violating Article 14 of the Constitution that guarantees equality to all.
The lead plea on the issue was filed by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). The IUML has claimed the Act violates the fundamental Right to Equality and intends to grant citizenship to a section of illegal immigrants by making an exclusion based on religion.
Seeking a response from the Central Government in four weeks to a batch of pleas challenging the CAA, the top court had also restrained High Courts in the country from proceedings with pending petitions on the issue.
Meanwhile, the Centre on Sunday urged the Supreme Court to dismiss pleas challenging the validity of the CAA, stressing that it does not encourage “illegal migration” as is a “focused law” which grants citizenship only to members of six specified communities who came on or before December 31, 2014. In a detailed 150-page affidavit, the Ministry of Home Affairs said, “Parliament is competent to make laws for the whole or any part of the territory of India as provided in Article 245 (1) of The Constitution of India.”
Several petitions have been filed challenging the constitutional validity of the amended law, including by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, RJD leader Manoj Jha, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, and AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi.
Muslim body Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, All Assam Students Union (AASU), Peace Party, CPI, NGO ‘Rihai Manch’, advocate ML Sharma, and law students have also approached the Supreme Court challenging the Act.
Anti-CAA protests had singed the country and even led to months-long sit-ins like in Shaheen Bagh in Delhi.
In January 2020, the apex court made it clear it will not stay the operation of the CAA without hearing the Centre.
Besides the pleas on CAA, the apex court, according to the list of businesses uploaded on its website, is also scheduled to hear a PIL filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay.
It seeks directions to the Centre and the states to publish draft legislations prominently on government websites and in the public domain at least 60 days before they are introduced in Parliament and state assemblies.
The CJI-led bench would also hear another PIL seeking to establish special anti-corruption courts in every district to decide cases related to various economic offences like money laundering and tax evasion within one year.
The top court would also consider a PIL for a direction to the Centre to declare the Law Commission as a “statutory body” and appoint the chairperson and members to the panel.
