Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Petitions Seeking a Stay on the Citizenship Amendment Act Rules

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear multiple petitions seeking a stay on the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act rules. The bench, comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, granted urgent listing upon Sibal's request.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal argued that although the top court had not stayed the law during the hearing on its validity in 2019, the recent notification of rules by the government just before elections poses challenges as it may lead to irreversible citizenship grants.

The Indian Union of Muslim League (IUML) sought an urgent hearing in the Supreme Court to stay the CAA and its rules, while the Democratic Youth Federation of India filed a separate plea objecting to the rules' violation of Article 14 of the Constitution, alleging it to be unconstitutional, discriminatory, arbitrary, unreasonable, and irrational. Over 200 connected petitions filed in the Supreme Court since 2019 challenge various provisions of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

The Home Ministry notified the implementation of the CAA rules on March 11, allowing expedited citizenship for refugees from specified religious minorities in neighbouring countries. The CAA aims to grant citizenship to refugees to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains and Christians who fled religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan before December 31, 2014.​