The SC today refused to put a stay on the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act. Refusing to put a stay on Citizenship Law, and NPR, the top court gave the centre 4 weeks time to respond to the petitions contesting the legality of the Citizenship Amendment Act.
BREAKING: Supreme Court issues notice in all fresh petitions filed relating to the CAA. 4 weeks time granted to the Centre to respond to the new petitions. Supreme Court says it will hold small, in-chamber hearings for procedural issues relating to the CAA.
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Kapil Sibal, representing the petitioners, requested the court to put on hold enforcement of CAA and postponement of the NPR exercise for the time being. Sibal contended that the interim stay should be granted till the time the Supreme Court hears the matter claiming that if the citizenship is granted, it will be difficult to revoke it.
Arguing on behalf of the centre, Attorney General KK Venugopal sought additional time from the court stating that the government had been given copies of only 60 of 143 pleas and thus it requires more time to respond to them.
The Bench of CJI SA Bobde with Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Sanjiv Khanna heard the case involving as many as 143 petitions, most of them challenging the validity of the Citizenship Law while others extending support to the Act. Granting the centre four weeks’ time, the bench refused a stay on CAA until it heard the Centre’s response and suggested that it would set up a five-judge Constitution bench to hear the matter.
Senior Advocate Vikas Singh sought an interim order citing that the Act infracted the Assam accord.
Attorney General Venugopal asked the court to treat the case of Assam and Tripura separately, stating that the Assam NRC will not become operative unless the final list is shared by the Registrar General of India.
Furthermore, the CJI acknowledged that the case of Assam and Tripura matter is different from the rest of the country. The top court said that Assam and Tripura matters will be clubbed together to be dealt with separately. The Court asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal to assist in identifying these matters and asked the centre to respond on Assam related petitions in the next two weeks.
CJI Bobde also restrained all the High Courts from hearing any petition in favour or against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
