Top Court dismisses plea seeking to not allow anyone to raise issues against CAA
Court expressed shock on filing of such a petition where no provisions were challenged but only a bizarre request was made while invoking Article 32.
A division bench of the Supreme Court today dismissed a petition filed by Hindu Dharma Parishad that sought a direction that no person should be allowed to raise any issues against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019.
The plea also sought a direction to tag the same with the pending batch of pleas which have challenged the CAA.
Justices SK Kaul and AS Oka regarded the plea to be a bizarre request and asked the petitioner to withdraw the same.
Court also opined that the prayer was not maintainable under Article 32 as no specific provision was challenged by it.
Last month, CJI UU Lalit had remarked that he would refer the pleas challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 to a three-judge bench.
Court had also issued a bunch of directions for completion of procedural formalities in the case.
The bench, also comprising Justice S Ravindra Bhat, had asked the Centre to file its response to the petitions and had 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 neighbouring 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: Hindu Dharma Parishad vs. Union of India & Ors.