Notice to the central government, sought a reply in four weeks
The court said – a larger bench can hear this matter
Hearing on petitions filed in various high courts also stopped
New Delhi, January 22: The Supreme Court has granted relief to the Central Government on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) case. The court has refused to stay the Citizenship Amendment Act.
The court said that a large bench of five judges can hear the matter. The court directed the central government to file the reply in four weeks. The Supreme Court has given two weeks time to respond to the petitions related to Assam and Tripura.
The Supreme Court said that after four weeks they would decide a day, after which the petitions filed against the Citizenship Amendment Act would be heard daily. The Supreme Court has prohibited the issuance of any order on petitions filed against the Citizenship Amendment Act in different high courts across the country. The Central Government had filed an application in the Supreme Court seeking transfer of the petitions filed against the CAA in the High Court of the States to the Supreme Court.
Court room number one was over crowded before the hearing began on Wednesday. On this, Attorney General KK Venugopal said that the lawyers were unable to come in the court due to the crowd gathered outside and inside the courtroom. There should be a peaceful atmosphere, something must be done.
Then Kapil Sibal said that this is the largest court in the country. The Chief Justice then said that if the security personnel push anyone, then there will be trouble. The Chief Justice said that we are trying. When the hearing of the case is over, the concerned lawyers should move out. The Attorney General said that in this way it cannot continue, they should not stand like this, any order should be issued. The Attorney General said that there are 144 petitions today. Then the Chief Justice said that there is no need for everyone to come to the court. Will meet with all parties, people can give their suggestions.
Senior advocate Indira Jaising said that the most problem is caused by the crowd in the court room. Then the Chief Justice said that it is not human, why push anyone?
During the hearing, the Attorney General said that in total there are more than 144 petitions. We also have to file an affidavit. Just giving the initial affidavit. The Center has received 60 petitions. Sibal then said that it should be decided first whether it should be sent to the Constitution Bench or not. This process can be avoided for three weeks. Sibal said that a date should be fixed for hearing soon in February. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the process of granting citizenship has started. 30 thousand people have been marked in UP. The Chief Justice then said that at the moment we can ask the government to grant provisional citizenship. We cannot ban unilaterally. The Chief Justice said that it is important that we should listen to 99 per cent of the petitioners and issue orders after that. If we issue an order after listening to the Center and something, then the rest of the petitioners will say that we have not been heard.
Singhvi and Sibal said that the matter should be referred to the Constitution Bench. Sibal said that till then the process should be deferred for two months. The Attorney General then protested, saying it would stay. The Chief Justice then said that this case could go to the Constitution Bench. We will be hearing later on the issue of prohibition. During the hearing, the Central Government suggested that the petition against the Citizenship Amendment Act should now be stayed in the Supreme Court, as many petitions have already been filed in this case.
Among those who filed the petitions were Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Peace Party, Rihai Manch and NGO named Citizen Against Hate, Jan Adhikar Party and Indian Muslim League and Ehtesham Hashmi, Assam leader D Saikia, MP Abdul Khalik, MLA Rupajyoti, All Assam Students Union, former IAS officer Som Sundar Barua, Amitabh Pandey, IFS Dev Mukherjee Burman and Tripura Former Congress president Kishore Dev Burman. Among the petitioners are Harsh Mandar, Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey, Irfan Habib and Prabhat Patnaik. The petitions have sought the repeal of the Citizenship Amendment Act. The Peace Party has stated in its petition that the Constitution does not allow classification in the name of religion. This bill is in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution.
On January 10, the notice was issued in the Supreme Court on a petition filed by the Central Government seeking to transfer the pending petitions in the High Court to the Supreme Court regarding the Citizenship Amendment Act.
