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Synopsis

A CJI Chandrachud led bench of Supreme Court today agreed to hear the applications filed by Indian Union Muslim League and others seeking a stay on the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Rules, 2024 on Tuesday, March 19.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned the applications before the bench also comprising Justices Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

"In 2019, Court had said there we no rules and so no stay was granted..but now right before elections, they have notified the rules..please hear it, atleast on interim relief..", Sibal told the bench.

In response, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta clarified that the petitioners could not make submissions on whether citizenship could be granted or not.

"I cannot say anything on the case being heard", the SG also said.

While directing that all the petitions filed on the CAA along with the interim applications shall be listed on Tuesday, the CJI said, "There are diverse points..if a few lawyers can make submissions..so that no overlapping happens..".

By way of these applications, Court has been asked to stay the continued operation of the Impugned provisions of Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019; and Citizenship Amendment Rules 2024, which would result in valuable rights being created and citizenship being granted to persons belonging to only certain religions, thereby resulting in a fait accompli situation.

A further stay has been sought on the operation of Section 6B in the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, pertaining to grant of citizenship to persons belonging to only certain religions.

The application for directions filed through Advocate Pallavi Pratap states that the Impugned CAA Rules, 2024 create a highly
truncated and fast-tracked process for grant of citizenship to persons covered under the exemption created by Section 2(1)(b) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 which is manifestly arbitrary and creates an unfair advantage in favour of a class of persons on the ground solely of their religious identity, which is impermissible under Articles 14 and 15.

A few days back the Central government notified the rules to implement CAA.

It is to be noted that that Supreme Court had earlier referred the pleas challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 to a three-judge bench. 

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.

Case Title: Indian Union Muslim League and Ors. vs. Union of India and Ors.