What Supreme Court Said On Pleas Challenging Validity Of CAA - Key Takeaways

Hearing over 140 pleas challenging the validity of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Supreme Court on Wednesday said it may refer pleas challenging the validity of the law to a larger Constitution bench. While Attorney General KK Venugopal appeared for the central government, senior advocate Kapil Sibal represented the bunch of pleas claiming the new citizenship law is illegal. Petitioners include Congress MP Jairam Ramesh, the Indian Union Muslim League, and its MPs, Lok Sabha MP and AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, TMC MP Mahua Moitra, All Assam Students’ Union and Tripura royal scion Pradyot Kishore Deb Barman. 

Here are key takeaways from the Supreme Court’s observation on the pleas challenging CAA.

1. Supreme Court refused to grant an interim stay on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) or NPR or NRC. This means the PM Modi-led central government is free to implement those laws.
2. Supreme Court has given four weeks of time to the central government to file replies on all other CAA-related pleas (except those about Assam and Tripura). However, centre’s counsel has asked for six weeks to file affidavits in all CAA matters.
3. Supreme Court will consider hearing pleas related to Assam and Tripura separately. It has ordered the central government to file its reply in two weeks.
4. As of now, the Supreme Court has not referred the matter to a Constitution Bench. However, in the future, it can do that. It said a five-judge Constitution Bench will be set up to hear the matter.
5. Supreme Court has also asked the High Courts not to entertain any pleas on CAA until the apex court finishes deciding this matter.

Also Read: Supreme Court Restrains All High Courts From Hearing CAA, May Refer Pleas To 5-Judge Constitution Bench

According to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 and face religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.

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