New Delhi: Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has moved a petition before the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the implementation of the rules notified by the Union Home Ministry under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
In its application, IUML said that the Citizenship Amendment Rules, 2024 are manifestly arbitrary and create an unfair advantage in favour of a class of persons on the ground solely of their religious identity, which is impermissible under Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution.
It added that around 250 petitions challenging the provisions of the CAA are pending before the apex court and in case CAA is held to be unconstitutional, an “anomalous situation” would arise when people who would have got citizenship under the impugned Act and Rules would have to be stripped of their citizenship.
“Therefore, it is in the best interest of every person to defer the implementation of CAA and impugned rules till this Hon’ble Court finally decides the matter…The Petitioner had pressed for a stay of the implementation of the provisions of the impugned act. However, the Union of India had told this Hon’ble Court that the rules have not been framed and therefore the implementation will not take place. The Writ Petition has been pending for the last 4.5 years,” the application said.
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019 grants citizenship to non-Muslim migrants who had come from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014 for reasons of religious persecution.