Following the Union Government's notification of the rules to enforce the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) moved to the Supreme Court and filed a plea seeking a stay on its implementation in the country. IUML, a political party leading the charge against the CAA in a batch of writ petitions before the Supreme Court, sought an immediate stay of the newly notified rules. It also demanded an urgent hearing on the matter.
What did IUML say in its plea?
In its interlocutory application submitted within the ongoing writ petition, IUML contended that the presumption of constitutionality typically afforded to statutes does not apply when legislation is deemed "manifestly arbitrary." The petitioner argued that by linking citizenship to religion and introducing a classification based solely on religious grounds, the Act appears "prima facie unconstitutional and discriminatory" and therefore warrants intervention from the Supreme Court in the form of a stay order.
Highlighting its stance further, the petitioner emphasized that since the CAA remained unimplemented for 4.5 years, deferring its implementation until the Court's final decision would not cause any prejudice. Meanwhile, it will create an unusual situation if people who obtained citizenship through the CAA are to have their citizenship eventually revoked in the event that the Court rules that the statute is unconstitutional, it added.
IUML objects CAA based on religion
IUML clarified its position, stating that it does not oppose granting citizenship to migrants but objects solely to the exclusion based on religion. "Since the CAA discriminates on the basis of religion, it strikes at the root of the concept of secularism, which is the basic structure of the Constitution. Therefore, one way of looking at the implementation of the act would be to make it religion-neutral and give citizenship to all migrants irrespective of their religious status," it stated, as per the Live Law.
What is CAA?
On Monday, the Centre implemented the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, notifying the rules four years after the contentious law was passed by Parliament. The law was passed to fast-track citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.
With the unveiling of the rules that came days ahead of the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections, the Modi government will now start granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants -- Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians -- from the three countries. The rules come into force with immediate effect, according to a Gazette notification.
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