Karnataka HC To Hear Pleas Against CAA; Says There Is No SC Order Barring HCs From Taking Up The Matter

A division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Hemant Chandangoudar posted the plea filed by Peoples Unity for Civil Liberties & Human Rights Forum and Tiger Tipu and Baba saheb Ambedkar Welfare Organisation, for preliminary hearing after six weeks, on February 25.

The bench orally said :

"In case of maintainability of RERA Act, the Supreme Court had stated that only one high court in the country would first decide the maintainability of the act. As there is no specific order from the Supreme Court barring us from taking up the matter, we will hear the case."

The plea filed through advocate Sirajuddin Ahmed states that the petition raises a "seminal important question" regarding Citizenship (Amendment) Act, where religion is introduced as a reference point for citizenship for the first time.

The plea states that the CAA is in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India, as proviso in clause (b) of sub section (1) of section 2, inserted in the principal act suffers from the classification based only on religion. This classification is highly impermissible and discriminatory. Muslims are discriminated even in the case that they come to India due to religious persecution.

As many as 60 petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Act. On December 18, the Court had issued notices and posted the cases in January.