SC Reviewed & Refused Stay On CAA Till Jan 22
The government has the power to make rules and laws. In that process and under exercising such right, the Government had passed Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 which got it signed by the president on 12 Dec. 2019, having many of its advantage and disadvantage and having many side effects. It is one of the major and most debated issues which the country faces, and therefore many of the petitions were filed against it.
What is the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019?
Citizenship Act was having its presence in the Indian Constitution from its very inception, according to which citizenship of India can be obtained if the person is a citizen by birth, or is descent, or is registered or by naturalization or has got citizenship by incorporation of territory. Earlier if the person not having such qualifications wants to stay or profess his business in Indian boundaries has to obtain permission from the government for getting permission for certain limited period violating which the person can be punished either imprisonment or might be sent back to his own country. And if the person wants to stay in India permanently, he has to stay in India for 11 years for acquiring such citizenship.
However, in the 2019 Amendment Act so introduced and the bill seeks to introduce many new provisions and was presented and got its sanction from the government. According to the new amendment Act over citizenship, it grants certain rights to certain groups of people from six different casts (Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Christian, Jain, and Parsi) having their earlier nationality at Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. Only these personnel having their cast, and nationality as above mentioned same can become a citizen of this state and the period which earlier were 11 years has now come down to 5 years for obtaining citizenship. Through this act, therefore, it can be said that illegal migrants would now be able to obtain permanent citizenship in India.
The Bill also seeks to mention the cut-off date i.e the date before or on which the applicant should have intruded to get the benefit of such amendment. The date which is fixed is that of 31 Dec. 2014.
What is SC’s reaction towards it?
The bill after getting signed by the President and being transformed into act faces a lot of trouble to be applied, as it lacks certain aspects because of which the agitation is rising throughout the country. And therefore, many of the petitions were filed before the Supreme Court against this act. The petitions were made based on the infringement of the fundamental rights and Preamble of the Indian Constitution.
At about 59 petitions were filed before the Supreme Court against the bill in terms of violation of there rights an many more issues. And therefore of 16 Dec. 2019 the formal notice was issued by Supreme Court stating to allow petitions to be heard by the SC bench on 18 December.
However, on 18 Dec. Supreme Court refuses to give any judgment before 22 January, due to its winter vacations and also stating that they are not able to give any judgment as the Act has come into full force and SC doesn’t have the power to put stay on any act once passed by Parliament( relying on various judgment). However, SC recommends the counsel on behalf of the State to clarify the confusion because of which a lot of agitation is being raised in the country. And hence dismissed the petitions.
Submitted by
Sakshi Raje
Student Reporter