SC asks Centre to respond within 3 weeks to pleas seeking stay of CAA Rules

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to respond within three weeks to applications seeking a stay on the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud posted the matter for resumed hearing on April 9.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told the bench that he needed four weeks to file a reply to the 20 applications.

These applications have sought a stay on the Rules till the apex court disposes of the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

"It (CAA) does not take away citizenship of any person," Mehta told the bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

The Centre had on March 11 paved the way for the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, with the notification of the relevant rules, four years after the contentious law was passed by Parliament to fast-track Indian citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31,

The CAA amends Section 2 of the Citizenship Act of 1955 which defines “illegal migrants”.

It added a new proviso to Section 2(1)(b) of the Citizenship Act. As per the same, persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, and who have been exempted by the Central government under the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, or the Foreigners Act, 1946, shall not be treated as “illegal migrant”. Consequently, such persons shall be eligible to apply for citizenship under the 1955 Act.

Inputs from PTI