NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday fixed December 6 as the date for hearing on a batch of petitions challenging the validity of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019.
A bench of Chief Justice U U Lalit and Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi granted time to Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for filing responses on behalf of Tripura and Assam in the matter.
The court also nominated advocates Pallavi Pratap and Kanu Aggrawal for making a common compilation of documents to facilitate smooth hearing in the matters arising out of more than 230 petitions.
A host of senior advocates Kapil Sibal, A M Singhvi, Sidharth Luthra, P Wilson and Indira Jaising and others appeared on behalf of the petitioners.
The Centre was represented by Solicitor General Mehta.
The court asked the counsel representing the parties to file a written submissions of not more than three-page and indicate the time required for arguments.
Earlier, in its written response, the Centre has defended the validity of the 2019 Act, saying it does not encourage illegal migration since it is a “focused law” which grants citizenship only to members of six specified communities who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.
It a benign piece of legislation which seeks to provide a relaxation, in the nature of an amnesty, to specific communities from the specified countries with a clear cut-off date, the Centre said.
The court had issued notice to the Centre and had sought its response in January 2020.
The amended law seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain, and Parsi communities who came to the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014. Following the enactment, massive protests broke out across the country.
