No Stay On CAA, Top Court Asks Centre To Respond To Petitions In 3 Weeks

The Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon refused to stay implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act, or CAA. The court also gave the government three weeks - till April 8 - to respond to 237 petitions challenging the law that was notified last week, days before the Lok Sabha election.

In addition, the petitioners were given leave to approach if citizenship is granted to any individual before that date; senior lawyers Kapil Sibal and Indira Jaising both made that request, as Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta (appearing for the government) said, "I am not making any statement".

The matter was heard by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra. The petitioners included the Indian Union Muslim League (a Kerala-based political party) and also opposition leaders Jairam Ramesh of the Congress and Mahua Moitra of the Trinamool.

The petitioners had sought a pause on implementation of the CAA, which they have alleged is "discriminatory" and is against the interests of the Muslim community.

The petitioners told the court they would not oppose the government's request for more time to study the challenges, but urged the Chief Justice-led bench to order a stay on implementation.

In 2019, when the citizenship bill the Parliament, multiple petitions were filed against but the court did not pause implementation as the rules had not been notified. Last week, arguing in this same matter, Mr Sibal said situation did not apply currently, since the rules had been notified.

Mr Mehta then said the fact the rules were notified before an election was irrelevant.

Under this CAA, non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan fleeing religious persecution can seek citizenship. Persons from Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian communities from these three nations are eligible if they entered on or before December 31, 2014.

The opposition has slammed the government over the timing of the law's implementation - four years after it cleared the Parliament and days before a general election. The move is "evidently designed to polarise the elections, especially in West Bengal and Assam", Mr Ramesh had said.

Trinamool boss and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said she doubts the law's legality and alleged a conspiracy to "snatch citizenship rights". "BJP leaders say CAA gives you rights. But the moment you apply for citizenship, you become illegal migrants and you will lose your rights. You will lose rights and be taken to detention camps. Please think before you apply," she said.

The government has trashed the allegations.

Stressing the CAA is not "unconstitutional", Home Minister Amit Shah accused the opposition of resorting to the "politics of lies". On the timing question, he said, "BJP made it clear in its 2019 manifesto that it will bring CAA and provide Indian citizenship to refugees (from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan). BJP has a clear agenda and under that promise, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed in both houses of Parliament in 2019. It got delayed due to Covid."

He also said minorities "need not be afraid because CAA has no provision to take back rights".