SC to Hear Pleas Challenging CAA on Dec 18

The Supreme Court on Monday said it will hear on December 18 pleas of the Congress and former Maharaja of Tripura Pradyot Kishor Deb Barman challenging constitutional validity of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), reported PTI.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde said it will hear the pleas along with other pending matters coming up for hearing on December 18.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi mentioned the matter before the CJI on December 16 and said that the two pleas and this petition should also be heard along with a similar plea filed by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML)—the first party to challenge CAA in SC—which is coming up for hearing on Wednesday.

According to Live Law, at least a dozen petitions have been filed in the apex court challenging the Act, which was passed in Parliament earlier this month and received President’s assent on December 12.

CAA, while giving the right to acquire Indian citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi, Jain and Christian migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014, excludes Muslims. The law has drawn flak from the opposition, activists, students and civil society members from across the country who allege that CAA is in violation of the Constitution, as it grants citizenship on the basis of religion. On the other hand, the law is said to be in contravention of the Assam Accord. The Northeastern states—especially Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya—are witnessing protests, violence, curfews and internet shutdown since before the passage of the Bill.

The law has been challenged in the Supreme Court by senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh as well “in his personal capacity”.

“Given the urgent situation that has developed around the rushed and insidious Citizenship Amendment Act, I approached the Hon'ble Supreme Court to hear my matter urgently.
The Hon'ble judges have agreed to list my challenge to the same on Wednesday i.e. day after tomorrow,” Ramesh said on Twitter on Monday.

The petitions filed in the apex court by a number of litigants contend that impugned enactment exfacie violates the fundamental guarantees under Article 14 as also Article 21 of the Constitution, said Live Law.

The petitioners submit that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act violates every known principle of equality and equal treatment, “damages and destroys” the Indian Constitution’s basic feature of secularism, and ought to be struck down as unconstitutional.

On Monday, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), too, said that it would file a petition in the Supreme Court against the Citizenship Amendment Act, saying the tweaked law is against constitutional provisions.
Party general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the apex court would be approached either on Monday or Tuesday.