The Supreme Court made a decision on Tuesday not to issue any temporary orders halting the enforcement of the regulations put forth by the Union Home Ministry under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Stressing the need for the Union government to be given adequate time to address the interim applications contesting the introduction of the 2024 Citizenship Amendment Rules, a Bench led by Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, deferred the matter for further discussion on April 9.
The Bench, consisting of Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, declined to issue any directive tying the granting of citizenship under the challenged law to the resolution of the petitions questioning the validity of the CAA.
Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, argued that the contested law doesn't revoke citizenship but rather grants it, thus the petitioners should not be prejudiced by the implementation of the CAA.
SG Mehta pointed out that numerous applications seeking a suspension of the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Rules had not been served to them, suggesting a four-week period for the submission of responses.
Contrarily, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the petitioners, strongly advocated for a suspension of the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Rules.
Sibal highlighted the irreversible nature of acquiring citizenship, stating that if someone were granted citizenship, it would be exceedingly difficult to revoke it, rendering the petitions against the CAA futile.
He reminded the court that in 2019, no stay order was issued on the implementation of the CAA due to the absence of the rules.
Last week, the Supreme Court agreed to expedite the hearing of pleas seeking a suspension of the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Rules.
In its plea, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) argued that the rules introduced under the CAA were evidently arbitrary and provided unfair advantages based solely on religious identity, which contravenes Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution.
It further stated that approximately 250 petitions challenging the CAA's provisions are pending before the Supreme Court, and if the CAA is deemed unconstitutional, a situation would arise where individuals who obtained citizenship under the Act and Rules would have to be deprived of it.
Hence, it urged for the deferment of the implementation of the CAA and the impugned rules until the Supreme Court reaches a final decision on the matter.
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