Supreme Court on CAA: The Center on Tuesday sought time from the Supreme Court to file a reply to the petitions seeking a stay on the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act rules.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, ‘It (CAA) does not take away the citizenship of any person.’

The Solicitor General said he needed some time to respond to the applications seeking a stay on the rules till the top court disposes of the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

The next hearing is on April 8.
Chief Justice Chandrachud gave three weeks to the Center and said that the court will hear the matter on April 9.

Let us tell you that the top court was hearing more than 200 petitions related to the controversial law, which was implemented on March 15, almost four years after it was approved by the Parliament. The petitions have demanded a ban on the implementation of CAA and Citizenship Amendment Rules 2024.

Last week, senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, referring to a petition filed by the Kerala-based Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) before the Supreme Court, had said that the Centre's move to implement the controversial law was questionable as the Lok Sabha elections are fast approaching. Have been.

The petitioners challenging the law have said that the CAA discriminates against Muslims based on religion. It has also been argued that this is religious segregation and violates the right to quality of life under Article 14.

These people also filed a petition
Apart from IUML, some other petitioners include Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra; Congress leader and former Union minister Jairam Ramesh; AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi; Assam Congress leader Debabrata Saikia; NGOs Rihai Manch and Citizens Against Hate, Assam Advocates Association; And some are law students.

IUML, Debabrata Saikia, Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chhatra Parishad (a regional student organization), Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) have also challenged the CAA Rules, 2024.

Kerala was the first state to move the Supreme Court against the CAA in 2020, saying it was against the provisions of the right to equality provided by the Indian Constitution. The state has also filed a case in the Supreme Court challenging the CAA rules.

Throughout the matter, the Center has maintained its stand and said that it will not affect the legal, democratic, or secular rights of citizens and has requested the court to dismiss the petitions challenging it.

What is CAA?
Various CAA provisions have been challenged in more than two hundred related petitions filed in the apex court since 2019. The objective of this law is to provide fast-track citizenship to non-Muslim refugees who came to India due to religious persecution from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014.

CAA was passed by the Parliament in December 2019, but now the Central Government issued its rules on Monday and implemented them in the entire country. At the same time, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the petitions demanding a ban on March 19.