The Supreme Court has agreed to entertain petitions requesting the Centre to halt the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Rules, 2024 until the resolution of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took cognizance of senior advocate Kapil Sibal's submissions on behalf of the Indian Union Muslim League.
Sibal argued that once citizenship is granted to migrant Hindus, it cannot be revoked, necessitating an expedited hearing.
"We will hear this on Tuesday. There are 190 plus cases. All of them will be heard. We will place a full batch with the IAs (Interim applications)," remarked the CJI.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, disclosed that there are 237 pending petitions, four of which involve interim applications contesting the enforcement of the rules.
The applications were filed following the Centre's implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, by announcing the rules four years after the law was passed by Parliament.
The Act aims to expedite citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who arrived in India before December 31, 2014.
The Indian Union Muslim League's application, one among the petitioners challenging the citizenship law, seeks the court's intervention to ensure no coercive measures are taken against individuals from the Muslim community pending resolution of the writ petitions.
Muslims are ineligible to apply for Indian citizenship under the CAA.
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