SC says, “No stay on CAA”
On Tuesday afternoon, the Supreme Court declined to halt the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
The court also granted the government a three-week period, until April 8, to address 237 petitions contesting the law, which was officially notified last week, shortly before the Lok Sabha elections.
The case was presided over by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. Among the petitioners were the Indian Union Muslim League, a political party based in Kerala, as well as opposition figures Jairam Ramesh of the Congress and Mahua Moitra of the Trinamool Congress.
The court also served notices on the petitions challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019, which it had not previously issued, as reported by The Indian Express.
Enacted by Parliament in December 2019, the law faced immediate legal challenges in the Supreme Court, which declined to suspend it at the time due to the absence of formulated rules for its implementation.
The hearing on Tuesday occurred shortly after the Union government published the rules governing the Act.
Senior advocate Indira Jaising, representing one of the petitioners, urged the court either to direct that no citizenship be granted under the law until the final resolution of the matter or to stipulate that any citizenship granted under the rules be contingent upon the court’s verdict, according to Live Law.
