Supreme Court To Hear Petitions Challenging CAA Today

The Supreme Court will hear a batch of petitions questioning the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). The bench hearing the clutch of pleas will be headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde. Justice SA Nazeer and Justice Sanjiv Khanna are also likely to be on the bench which had earlier, issued notice to the Union government on the petitions, which include those filed by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.

The apex Court had on January 9, refused hearing a petition which sought that the CAA be declared constitutional. The Supreme Court then observed that the effort should be to maintain peace and harmony in these difficult times through which the country was passing.

IUML, in its petition, challenged the CAA claiming that the legislation is violative of the fundamental Right to Equality by excluding members of one religion while granting citizenship to a section of illegal immigrants.

IUML sought an interim stay on the implementation of the CAA claiming that it discriminated against Muslims, while granting citizenship to members of other faiths. Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh described the Act as an attack on core fundamental rights laid down in the Constitution.

President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, on December 12. The Presidential assent in effect, turned the Bill into an Act.

Nationwide protests against the CAA have since broken out with demonstrators demanding a withdrawal of the Act.