The enactment of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act had sparked widespread protests across the country.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act on Monday. The batch of PILs against CAA, including the lead plea by the Indian Union of Muslim League, are part of 220 petitions list for hearing by a bench comprising of Chief Justice U U Lalit and Justice S Ravindra Bhat.
The bench headed by the Chief Justice will hear several petitions pending for a couple of years, including against the validity of CAA, the enactment of which sparked widespread protests across the country.
The amended law seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain, and Parsi communities who came to the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014.
The apex court had refused to stay the operation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) while hearing the batch of pleas on December 18, 2019. The SC had, however, issued notices to the Centre.
READ | Supreme Court deals with 'mushroom growth' of PILs; 189 out of 228 pleas listed for Monday challenge CAA
The top court had sought Centre’s response by the second week of January 2020., but due to COVID-19-induced restrictions, the matter could not come up for a full-fledged hearing because of the involvement of a large number of lawyers and litigants.
One of the petitioners, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), said that the act violates the fundamental Right to Equality and intends to grant citizenship to a section of illegal immigrants by making an exclusion based on religion. The plea sought an interim stay on the operation of the law.
Another plea, filed by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, termed the Act a "brazen attack" on core fundamental rights envisaged under the Constitution and said it treats "equals as unequal".
There are several other petitions from RJD leader Manoj Jha, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, and AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, Muslim body Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, All Assam Students Union (AASU), Peace Party, CPI, NGOs 'Rihai Manch' and Citizens Against Hate, advocate M L Sharma, and law students challenging the act.
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 "Supreme Court to hear batch of petitions challenging CAA today")
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