The Supreme Court has said that it will hear arguments on the stay of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act rules on April 9 after the Centre sought time to file its response to multiple applications seeking the stay.
The Centre has refused to give a statement in Supreme Court that there will not be any citizenship granted under CAA till the next apex court hearing on April 9.
Petitioners have pressed for the statement and urged the court to pass a judicial order if the Centre is not willing. A bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said there was no infrastructure, as required under the CAA Rules, in place for grant of citizenship to start.
Petitioners say the matter is too serious for the court to bank on a “hope-and-trust jurisprudence”.
“It (CAA) does not take away citizenship of any person,” Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, 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, 2014.
Supreme Court allows Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction to use ‘man blowing turha’ symbol for Lok Sabha, Assembly polls
The Supreme Court on March 19 allowed the Sharad Pawar faction to use ‘Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar’ as its name for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the country.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan also permitted the NCP faction led by the veteran politician to use as its symbol ‘man blowing turha’ (a traditional trumpet also known as tutari).
The bench passed the order on a plea by the Sharad Pawar group seeking to restrain the Ajit Pawar faction from using the ‘clock’ symbol for the polls, as allotted by the Election Commission, on the ground that it is disrupting the level playing field.
The NCP, founded by Sharad Pawar, had ‘clock’ as its election symbol before its split. The symbol is now with the Ajit Pawar faction.
The Bench directed the Election Commission of India and State Election Commission to recognise the ‘Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar’ and its symbol ‘man blowing turha’.
It also asked the ECI to not allot the ‘man blowing turha’ symbol to any other party or an independent candidate.
It asked the Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led faction to issue a public notice in newspapers in English, Hindi and Marathi saying that the ‘clock’ symbol is sub-judice and its use is subject to adjudication.
The bench said the Ajit Pawar faction should make similar declarations in all election related audio-visual advertisements and publicity material like banners and posters.
It asked the Ajit Pawar camp to file its response within four weeks on the Sharad Pawar group’s plea against the February 6 order of the Election Commission recognising the former as the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
On February 19, the top court directed that the Election Commission’s order allotting ‘Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar’ as the party name for the Sharad Pawar faction will continue till further orders.
Krishna Janmabhoomi case | Supreme Court disposes of plea against HC order on consolidation of 15 suits
A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta gave the Committee of Management Trust Shahi Masjid Idgah, which has challenged the January 11 order, the liberty to pursue its recall application before the High Court.
“The petitioner has called for recall of impugned judgement of Allahabad High Court. We dispose of the present SLP with liberty to revive the recall petition before the High Court,” the Bench ordered.
Counsel for the Committee said the application for recall of the January 11 order is pending before the High Court. She requested the court to direct listing of the application before the High Court on a specific date.
However, the Bench refused to pass any such order.
On January 11, the High Court “in interest of justice” directed that the 15 suits on an application filed by the Hindu plaintiff be consolidated.
The Hindu plaintiff submitted before the High Court in the application that after the original suit was filed before the civil judge (senior division), Mathura, on September 25, 2020, several other suits were filed with regard to the 13.37 acre land.
The High Court had ordered, “These suits are of similar nature. The proceedings in these suits can be taken up and the suits may be decided simultaneously on the basis of common evidence. To save the time of the Court, the expenses to be incurred to the parties, and to avoid conflicting judgments it appears expedient in the interest of justice to consolidate the suits with each other.”
On January 29, the Supreme Court had ordered continuance of the interim stay on the operation of the Allahabad High Court order for a court-monitored survey of the Shahi Idgah Mosque complex adjoining the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura.
On January 16, it stayed the operation of the December 14, 2023 order of the Allahabad High Court allowing a court-monitored survey of the Shahi Idgah Mosque complex.
It also stayed the order of the High Court by which it agreed to the appointment of a court commissioner to oversee the survey of the mosque premises. The Hindu side claims it has signs suggesting it was once a temple.
The Supreme Court, however, made it clear that the proceedings before the High Court in the dispute, including the maintainability of the suit under Order 7 Rule 11 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC), will continue.
The Supreme Court is already seized of another petition filed by the mosque committee challenging the May 26, 2023 order of the High Court transferring to itself all matters related to the dispute pending before a Mathura court.
The Hindu side had made a prayer before the High Court that it should conduct the original trial like it had done in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title dispute.
PM Modi vows to take stringent action against corruption over next five years
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 19 said that stringent action would be taken against corruption over the next five years, and asked the people of Tamil Nadu to give his BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) a massive mandate in the Lok Sabha elections.
Participating in a public meeting in Salem, Modi said the DMK and Congress party were two sides of the same coin as both were involved in corruption and family rule. “Only after sending the Congress home, has 5G technology grown. But in Tamil Nadu, the fifth generation [of the DMK] is coming to power,” he said.
Modi claimed that the Centre was allocating funds for development schemes to Tamil Nadu but the DMK government was trying to loot these funds — an allegation similar to one he made earlier this month.
Taking a dig at the INDIA alliance, PM Modi said their motive had become clear after their first rally in Mumbai’s Shivaji Park.
Listing out various development schemes brought about by the government, Modi spoke of the two defence industrial corridors announced, one was in Tamil Nadu, while of the seven mega textile parks announced, one was for the State.
Earlier in the day, PM Modi also took out a roadshow in Palakkad, Kerala, in his second visit to the State within a week as part of the BJP’s Lok Sabha election campaign.
The roadshow started at 10.45 a.m. from Anjuvilakku junction and proceeded along the heavily barricaded Court Road towards the Head Post Office.
PM Modi, BJP slam Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on ‘Shakti’ as evidence that the Congress is anti-Hindu and anti-women
For the second successive day, the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the Congress party and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi over his remarks on ‘Shakti’, making the issue an important theme in the party’s campaign for the Lok Sabha election.
In Salem, the Prime Minister alleged at a public rally that the Congress and its allies, including Tamil Nadu’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, were out to “destroy Shakti”, but asserted that “they will get destroyed” instead.
Modi was referring to Gandhi’s remarks at the conclusion of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Mumbai earlier this week, when he raised concerns about electronic voting machines and Central investigative agencies, in the context of the Opposition’s struggle against the might of the State, noting that “there is a word ‘shakti’ (might) in Hinduism...”
Constituents of the INDIA bloc “would never speak ill about any other faith, but would not lose a second in abusing the Hindu religion,” Modi alleged. “The election campaign has started, but the INDI alliance plan came out in their first rally in Mumbai. Their manifesto, ill intentions have come out. At Shivaji Park in Mumbai, the INDI alliance openly declared they will destroy ‘Shakti’ which is faith. What does ‘Shakti’ mean in Hinduism — everybody in Tamil Nadu knows that,” he said, even as 11 women dressed as “Shakti Ammas” joined him on stage.
Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras resigns from Union Cabinet, cries ‘injustice’ done against him, party
Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras resigned on March 19 and accused the BJP of doing “injustice” with his Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party by not including it in the seat-sharing deal with allies for the Lok Sabha election in Bihar. The announcement came at a press conference a day after the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance announced its seat-sharing pact and gave five seats to Paras’s nephew Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).
Paras may join the Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal and contest the upcoming Lok Sabha election from Hajipur (reserved) from where he is a sitting MP.
“I was waiting for the announcement of seat sharing among the NDA allies which was announced on March 18. I’ve been grateful to the Prime Minister but my party and I faced injustice. As such, I am resigning as Minister from the Union cabinet,” Paras said.
When asked of his plans given these developments, Paras quickly added, “I will decide this after discussions with party leaders and workers.”
However, the buzz in the political circles is that Paras may be joining the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance bloc in Bihar and might contest the Parliamentary election from his Lok Sabha seat of Hajipur (reserved) against nephew Chirag Paswan.
Meanwhile, in another significant political development in the neighbouring Jharkhand, Sita Soren, sister-in-law of former Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) legislator, resigned from the party and joined the BJP in Delhi in the presence of the party’s national general secretary Vinod Tawde and Jharkhand in-charge Laxmikant Bajpai.
Sita Soren was the JMM MLA from Jama in Dumka district. She is wife of Durga Soren, the late son of JMM chief Shibu Soren.
AAP leader Sanjay Singh takes oath as Rajya Sabha member
Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh on March 19 took oath as member of the Rajya Sabha after a Delhi Court permitted him to visit Parliament.
Singh who has been in Tihar Jail since October 2023 in connection with a case pertaining to now scrapped Delhi excise policy took oath in the presence of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar who also serves as the chairman of the Rajya Sabha. This is Singh’s second term as a Rajya Sabha Member from Delhi. Since Parliament is not in session, Singh’s oath taking ceremony was not conducted in the House.
Special Judge M.K. Nagpal, on March 16, directed the jail superintendent to make adequate security arrangements for Mr. Singh’s visit to the parliament. While travelling to the parliament, Singh was not allowed to use a mobile phone or permitted to speak to anyone nor to address the press or hold any public meeting, the court said. He was however, allowed to meet his family. Sansad TV released a video of the swearing in ceremony.
In Brief
MEA reaffirms Arunachal Pradesh as integral part of India, rejects China’s claims
Days after the Chinese military reiterated its claim over Arunachal Pradesh, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on March 19 said, “Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India.” “We have noted comments by Chinese Defence Ministry spokesperson advancing absurd claims over territory of Arunachal Pradesh. Repeating baseless arguments doesn’t lend such claims any validity,” he said.
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini carries out first Cabinet expansion, inducts eight Ministers
The Nayab Singh Saini government in Haryana carried out the first cabinet expansion on March 19 by inducting eight MLAs as Ministers. Saini and five Ministers took oath last week. BJP MLA from Hisar Kamal Gupta was the first one to be administered oath as Cabinet Minister.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
