AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has moved the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the implementation of the CAA till the apex court disposes of the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.
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NEW DELHI: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has taken his concerns to the Supreme Court, seeking a halt on the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Rules until the apex court reaches a decision on the petitions contesting the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.
The Center’s action on March 11 marked a significant step towards enforcing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, by notifying the pertinent rules. This move came four years after the controversial law was passed by Parliament, aiming to expedite Indian citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who arrived in India before December 31, 2014.
Owaisi, among the petitioners challenging specific provisions of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, has now lodged an application with the Supreme Court, urging a suspension of the Act and the 2024 rules until the petitions are conclusively adjudicated. Additionally, he has requested a directive preventing the consideration or processing of citizenship status applications under section 6B of the Citizenship Act, 1955 (as amended by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019) during the pendency of the proceedings.
According to the application filed by advocate M R Shamshad,
“It is submitted that it is the case of petitioner in the instant writ petition that the Amendment Act has an unholy nexus with the National Register of Citizen ‘NRC’ exercise that has been concluded in Assam and is sought to be initiated in the rest of the country.”
The application underscores a fundamental legal principle, asserting the Supreme Court’s authority to suspend a statutory provision and the rules issued under it, thereby postponing their enforcement while adjudicating the constitutionality of the provision or enactment.
Furthermore, the application highlights that granting a stay on the implementation of the Amended Act and the 2024 Rules would not prejudice the respondents (the Centre and others), as the Union of India itself has refrained from operationalizing the Amendment Act for over four years.
The apex court has scheduled a hearing on March 19 to consider pleas urging the Centre to suspend the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Rules, 2024 until the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 are resolved. The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a political party based in Kerala, along with three other petitioners, has also submitted interim pleas subsequent to the Centre’s implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 through the notification of the rules.
The IUML’s application seeks the court’s intervention to ensure that no coercive measures are taken against individuals from the Muslim community while the writ petitions are under consideration. Additionally, the Democratic Youth Federation of India has approached the apex court seeking a suspension of the rules.
With the unveiling of the rules on March 11, just days before the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections, the Modi government initiated the process of granting Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants—Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians—from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.
The rules came into effect immediately following a gazette notification.
The contentious Citizenship Amendment Act had triggered protests across the country in late 2019 and early 2020 due to alleged discriminatory provisions. While the apex court declined to suspend the operation of the law, it issued notices to the Centre on the pleas on December 18, 2019.
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