SC notice to Centre on batch of petitions challenging citizenship law

New Delhi, Feb 07: The Supreme Court has issued notices to the Centre on a batch of petitions that challenged the newly amended citizenship law.

The petitions challenged the constitutional validity of the law. The court had on an earlier date refused to stay the new law.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal urged the bench to put on hold operation of new law and postpone exercise of the National Population Register (NPR) for the time being.

The court said it will not grant any stay on CAA without hearing the Centre on the matter.

"Will pass order on granting any interim relief to petitioner opposing the new law after four weeks," the bench said.

The new law seeks to grant citizenship to 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.

President Ram Nath Kovind gave assent to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 on December 12, turning it into an Act.

Several petitions have been filed challenging the constitutional validity of the newly amended law, including by RJD leader Manoj Jha, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi.

Several other petitioners include Muslim body Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, All Assam Students Union (AASU), Peace Party, CPI, NGOs 'Rihai Manch' and Citizens Against Hate, advocate M L Sharma, and law students have also approached the apex court challenging the Act.