Supreme Court seeks Centre's response to pleas seeking stay of CAA rules

The Supreme Court. sought Centre’s response to a bunch of pleas seeking a stay of the CAA rules

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the Narendra Modi government’s response to a bunch of petitions seeking a stay on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rules, fixing April 9 as the next date of hearing.

In the meantime, there is no stay on the grant of citizenship even as some of the petitioners pressed for it.

During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the government, told a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud that he needed some time to respond to the 20 applications which have sought a stay on the Rules till the apex court disposes of the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

“It (CAA) does not take away citizenship of any person,” Mehta told the bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, PTI reported.

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’.

On the other hand, 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 had said in an interview to ANI.

“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,” the minister had added.

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