CAA petitions: Apex court asks Centre to respond in four weeks

Protesters participate in a demonstration against NRC, CAA and NPR in Kolkata, on Wednesday. Pic/PTI

New Delhi: Making clear it will not stay the Citizenship (Amendment) Act without hearing the Centre, the Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday gave the government four weeks to respond to petitions challenging the CAA and said a five-judge Constitution bench will hear the matter.

Hearing a batch of 143 petitions, an apex court bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde issued notice to the Centre and restrained all high courts from hearing pleas on the CAA till it decides on the pleas. The bench, also comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Sanjiv Khanna, said it would hear the petitions pertaining to Assam and Tripura separately as the problem with the CAA in these two states is different from the rest of the country. "The matter is uppermost in everybody's mind. We will form a five-judge bench and then list the case," the court said.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for some petitioners, said the issue be referred to a Constitution bench and the NPR exercise be postponed by a couple of months. He also urged the bench to put on hold the operationalisation of the CAA. The bench said, "Even we think that the matter should be heard by a Constitution bench." Asserting that it will not grant any stay on the CAA without hearing the Centre on the matter, it said, "Will pass order on granting any interim relief to petitioner opposing CAA after four weeks."

143
No. of petitions that have been filed against CAA

Owaisi challenges Shah for CAA debate

After Home Minister Amit Shah threw a challenge to leaders like Rahul Gandhi for a public debate over CAA, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi joined the issue and wanted the former to discuss the law with him instead of others.

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