Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde on Thursday clarified that the challenge raised against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) will have to wait till a nine-judge Bench of the court wraps up hearing a reference made in connection with the Sabarimala case on the ambit and scope of religious freedom practised by multiple faiths across the country.
Review and reference: On Sabarimala review pleas
The nine-judge Bench is expected to start hearing the Sabarimala reference from March 16.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal made an urgent oral mention before Chief Justice Bobde to list the CAA case before they become infructuous, especially with the National Population Register (NPR) exercise commencing in April.
The CAA fast-tracks citizenship-by-naturalisation process for persons from six religious communities, other than Muslims, who have fled persecution from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Lawyers for the petitioners have argued that NPR data would be used to prepare a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC). The NPR-NRC is considered a harbinger-cum-facilitator for the operation of the CAA. Over 140 petitions have been filed against the CAA in the apex court.
In January, the court responded to the apprehensions about the NPR-NRC-CAA link, with an assurance that the CAA was “uppermost in everybody's minds”. The court then refused to stay the Act without hearing the government first.
No govt response yet
On Thursday, over a month later, the government is yet to file its response to the CAA challenge in the Supreme Court. Attorney General K.K. Venugopal said the government would be filing its reply in a few days.
Mr. Sibal pressed for “some interim orders”, but Chief Justice Bobde asked him to mention the case again when the court reopens after the Holi holidays.
The petitions against the CAA have argued that a law that welcomes “illegal migrants” into India selectively on the basis of their religion is against principles of secularism, right to equality and dignity of life enshrined in the Basic Structure of the Constitution.
The petitions said the Act selectively agreed to grant citizenship benefits to illegal migrants from only three countries. Besides the new law did not impose any requirement on illegal migrants to prove their claim of religious persecution or even a reasonable fear of it.
They argued that the legislation effectuated discrimination on the basis of the intrinsic and core identity of an individual, that is, his religious identity as a Muslim. While Muslim migrants would have to show their proof of residency in India for 12 years, the law allowed persons from the six communities - Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians - to be naturalised in five years' time.
