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BREAKING| 'Prima Facie Unconstitutional' : Indian Union Muslim League Moves Supreme Court To Stay Citizenship Amendment Rules 2024
LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK
12 March 2024 11:28 AM IST
A day after the Union Government notified the rules to implement the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act 2019, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) filed an application seeking stay of the Citizenship Amendment Rules 2024.Political party IUML is the lead petitioner in the batch of writ petitions pending in the Supreme Court challenging the CAA.IUML filed an interlocutory application in...
A day after the Union Government notified the rules to implement the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act 2019, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) filed an application seeking stay of the Citizenship Amendment Rules 2024.
Political party IUML is the lead petitioner in the batch of writ petitions pending in the Supreme Court challenging the CAA.
IUML filed an interlocutory application in the pending writ petition seeking an immediate stay of the implementation of the CAA. It argued that the normal rule of presumption of constitutionality of a statute will not operate when the legislation is "manifestly arbitrary". The petitioner argued that since the Act has linked citizenship to religion and has introduced a classification solely on the basis of religion, it is "prima facie unconstitutional" and ought to be stayed by the Supreme Court.
The petitioner argued that since the CAA was not implemented for 4.5 years, no prejudice will be caused if its implementation is deferred till the final decision of the Court. On the contrary, if persons who got citizenship under the CAA are to be ultimately stripped of their citizenship in the eventuality of the Court finding the law to be unconstitutional, it will create an anomalous situation.
IUML clarified that it is not against the grant of citizenship to migrants but that the only objection is to the religion-based exclusion.
"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 Constitution. Therefore, one way of looking at implementation of the act would be to make it religion neutral and give citizenship to all migrants irrespective of their religious status," it stated.
In the application, the IUML also sought an order directing the Union that, in the meanwhile, pending adjudication of the Writ Petition, members of any religion or denomination, who have been excluded on account of his / her religion(s), from the purview of the CAA, may not be subjected to any coercive action under the Citizenship Act, 1955, Passport Act, 1920, Foreigners Act, 1946.
It also sought an order not to take coercive action against persons belonging to the Muslim community who have been deprived of the benefit to apply for citizenship under the Rules pending adjudication of the Writ Petition or direct the Respondent Union to provisionally permit persons belonging to Muslim community also to apply for citizenship and submit a report on their entitlement.
Over 200 writ petitions are pending in the Supreme Court challenging the CAA.The writ petitions were last listed before the Supreme Court on October 31, 2022.
Brief Background
The CAA, which seeks to fast-track the process for getting Indian citizenship for non-Muslim migrants who fled from persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan and entered India before December 31, 2014, was passed by the Parliament in 2019.
As per the proviso introduced in Section 2(1)(b), migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi, Jain, and Christian religions from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan are eligible for citizenship by naturalization if they can establish their residency in India for five years instead of existing eleven years.
However, the implementation of the law was put on hold in view of the massive country-wide protests which took place against it. The protests were compounded by the Government's proposal to introduce a National Register of Citizens (NRC) along with the implementation of the CAA.
Critics of the law object to the religion-based exclusion of refugees from the benefit of CAA, arguing that linking Indian citizenship with religion undermines the country's secular character. Over a hundred writ petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the law's constitutionality. The Supreme Court, while agreeing to hear the matter, declined to stay the operation of the Act.
The Government, in its counter-affidavit, defended the Act, stating that the law was not affecting the citizenship of any Indian citizen and that mere under-inclusion of a category while granting benefit was not a ground to strike down a law.
Yesterday, the Union Government notified the rules to implement the CAA and notified the formation of committees at the State/UT level to process the applications under the Citizenship Amendment Act.
