By Parmod Kumar
New Delhi, Feb 19 (UNI) The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will commence final hearing from May 5 on a batch of around 240 petitions challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 and the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024.
A Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi set aside eight days — from May 5 to May 12 — for the matter. The cases have been divided into two groups: those concerning Assam and Tripura, and those relating to the rest of the country.
“There are two sets of cases assailing CAA 2019…,” the Bench said, directing nodal counsel to identify and segregate matters accordingly. The Court indicated that petitioners would be heard first, followed by the union government, with rejoinder arguments concluding on May 12.
The CAA was passed by Parliament on December 11, 2019, and received Presidential assent the next day. Soon after, the Indian union Muslim League (IUML) moved the Supreme Court, challenging its constitutional validity. Over time, hundreds of petitions were filed by political leaders, civil society groups and individuals.
The Act amends the Citizenship Act, 1955 by introducing a proviso to Section 2(1)(b), which provides that Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan — who entered India on or before December 31, 2014 — were not “illegal migrants”. This enables them to apply for Indian citizenship. Muslims are not included under the provision.
Petitioners have contended that the law violates Article 14 by introducing religion as a criterion for citizenship and undermines the secular character of the Constitution. On December 18, 2019, the Supreme Court issued notice to the Central government but declined to stay the Act at that stage, as the Rules had not been framed.
In March 2024, the Centre notified the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, bringing the law into effect. Fresh applications were then filed seeking a stay on both the Act and the Rules. The Court sought the Centre’s response but refused an interim stay.
Among the petitioners are parliamentarians such as Jairam Ramesh, Mahua Moitra, and Asaduddin Owaisi, political parties including the IUML and Assam Gana Parishad, and other organisations.
