Supreme Court Declines To Order Stay On Granting Citizenship Under CAA, Next Hearing On April 9

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to pass any interim order staying the implementation of the rules notified by the Centre under the challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA).

The Apex Court adjourned hearing pleas challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) and Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 to April 9 for the Centre to file its counter affidavit to applications for stay.

The Bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra directed that the proceedings be listed on April 9. The Bench refused to pass any interim order staying the grant of citizenship till then. The Bench also did not accede to the request to pass an order making the grant of citizenship subject to the outcome of the case.

Vehement submissions were made seeking a stay on the grant of citizenship till the next posting, which the court did not pass. The Solicitor General told the Court that attempts are being made to mix up the issue of NRC with the CAA and that the former is not an issue before the Court. He told the court that the present law only permits the grant of citizenship.

At the outset, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Union submitted that there are 236 petitions challenging the CAA and that after the rules came, there are 20 IAs that have been filed for stay. “I need to file my reply. Everything will need to be collated. Three IAs I received yesterday late night. None of the petitioners as such are affected parties”, he submitted.

On March 11, the Centre notified the CAA rules four years after the law was passed by Parliament. The CAA aims to confer Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants–including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians–who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before December 31, 2014.

Several opposition parties have criticised the CAA, calling it ‘discriminatory’, ‘communal’ and ‘anti-constitutional’.

The Modi government maintains that nobody’s citizenship will be taken away due to CAA. “I have spoken on CAA at least 41 times on different platforms and spoken on it in detail that the minorities of the country need not be afraid because it has no provision to take back the rights of any citizen,” Union home minister Amit Shah said.

“The CAA aims to confer Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants–including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians–who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before December 31, 2014, and through this law, their sufferings can be ended,” Shah added.