NEW DELHI: AIMIM head Asaduddin Owaisi has filed a plea in the Supreme Court to stay the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 and rules for their "unholy nexus with the National Register of Citizen exercise".
The Supreme Court has decided to hear on March 19 the applications for stay of the provisions filed by several petitioners including Kerala's Indian Union Muslim League, DYFI and others.
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In his application, Owaisi asked the the court to stay the law as well as the rules till the final disposal of writ petitions challenging their validity.
He claimed the direct effect of the law and rules is that the State by offering an allurement and incentive to any Muslim from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan to change his or her faith prior to applying for citizenship to avail of the relaxed requirements for it.
The Citizenship Amendment Act was passed by Parliament on December 11, 2019 and received the assent of the President on December 12, 2019.
The law opposed vehemently by main Opposition parties allowed migrants of minority communities of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who have already entered the country till December 31, 2014 to seek citizenship.
Owaisi pleaded the court to ensure no recourse to citizenship would be undertaken during the pendency of the proceedings.
"The evil posed by the CAA is simply not of one of under-inclusion of grant of citizenship but is very blatantly the isolation of a minority community to selectively take action against them consequential to denial of citizenship. Any such action taken selectively against Muslims who have been excluded / left out of NRC would be onerous, likely irreversible and completely unconstitutional," his plea contended.
Over 200 writ petitions filed earlier claimed the provisions of the CAA, 2019 were ultra vires Articles 14, 21, 25 and the basic structure of the Constitution of India, offending the principle of constitutional morality.
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Owaisi's plea contended when the top court on December 18, 2019 issued notice to the Union government in the matter, an oral submission was made that the Act had not yet been operationalised as no rules had been framed.
However, after notification of rules on March 11, 2024, it has become imperative for this court to consider the present application for stay as interim arrangement.
His plea contended the Amendment Act has an unholy nexus with the NRC exercise that has been concluded in Assam and is sought to be initiated in the rest of the country.
"The immediate consequence of operationalisation of the Amendment Act, if the same is not stayed by this court, would be that all non-Muslims who have been left out of excluded from the NRC in Assam would be given the opportunity to apply for citizenship under the 2024 Rules leaving only Muslims who have been left out/ excluded from the NRC to the mercy of the executive to face action consequential to loss of citizenship," it said.
