Supreme Court Declines Stay On CAA, Sets Deadline For Government Response

The Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon refused to stay the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act, or CAA. The court also gave the government three weeks till April 8 to respond to 237 petitions challenging the law that was notified last week, days before the Lok Sabha election.

Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra heard the matter. The petitioners included the Indian Union Muslim League, opposition leaders Jairam Ramesh of the Congress, and Mahua Moitra of the Trinamool Congress.

The next hearing in this case has been set for April 9th.

Under this CAA, non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan fleeing religious persecution can seek citizenship. Persons from Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, or Christian communities from these three nations are eligible if they entered on or before December 31, 2014.