Supreme Court to hear 232 petitions on CAA today

New Delhi, October 30

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear around 240 PILs, including a large batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), on Monday when it will reopen after a nine-day Diwali vacation.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice UU Lalit and Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi has listed for hearing as many as 232 petitions, mostly PILs, on October 31 on the CAA issue alone.

Earlier, the Bench headed by the CJI, who is scheduled to demit office on November 8, had said the pleas challenging the CAA would be referred to a three-judge Bench.

The 2019 amended law, which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim migrants belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain, and Parsi communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who have come to the country till 2014, has come in for stinging criticism by Opposition parties, leaders and other entities over the exclusion of Muslims. The lead plea on the issue was filed by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). In January 2020, the apex court made it clear it would not stay the operation of the Act without hearing the Centre.

Seeking a response from the Centre in four weeks to a batch of pleas challenging the CAA, the top court had also restrained high courts from proceedings with pending petitions on the issue.

Besides the pleas on CAA, the apex court, according to the list of businesses uploaded on its website, is also scheduled to hear a PIL filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay.

It seeks directions to the Centre and the states to publish draft legislations prominently on government websites and in the public domain at least 60 days before they are introduced in Parliament and state Assemblies.