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Synopsis

The Supreme Court on Monday remarked that it will refer the pleas challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) to a three-judge bench. Court added that more instructions on the matter will be issued on October 31st.

When the matter was taken up on Monday, September 12th, CJI UU Lalit led bench issued a bunch of directions for the completion of procedural formalities in the case.

The bench, also comprising Justice S Ravindra Bhat, asked the Centre to file its response to the petitions and also sought replies from the states of Assam and Tripura as well on pleas specific to them.

Over 200 petitions that were filed after the introduction of the Amendment Act in 2019, were taken up by the Supreme Court. Notices in the pleas were issued in January 2020, but the matter could not be taken up for hearing.

CAA, which was passed on December 12, 2019, amends Section 2 of the Citizenship Act of 1955 which defines “illegal migrants”. Now, persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian communities from the neighboring countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, shall not be treated as “illegal migrants” and shall be eligible to apply for citizenship under the 1955 Act.

In December last year, the Parliament in its Winter Session was informed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on the question of implementation of CAA and NRC, that,

“CAA was notified on December 12, 2019 and came into force w.e.f. January 10, 2020. The persons covered under CAA may apply for citizenship after the rules are notified under CAA. However, till now no decision has been taken yet in preparing NRC at national level.”