Asaduddin Owaisi files plea in SC seeking stay on implementation of CAA
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New Delhi: Asaduddin Owaisi, the leader of the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), filed a motion with the Supreme Court on Saturday to halt the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019's implementation, according to ANI.
According to Owaisi's appeal, while the case is pending, the government is not permitted to consider or handle any applications for the grant of citizenship status under Section 6B of the Citizenship Act, 1955 (as amended by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019).
In December 2019, the Parliament passed the CAA. However, the Union administration released guidelines for it on Monday earlier this week, Hindustan Times reported.
The law intends to expedite the process of granting citizenship to non-Muslim refugees who arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.
Since 2019, more than two hundred related petitions have been submitted before the highest court, contesting different provisions of the CAA. On March 19, the Supreme Court will consider the applications.
Opposition leaders criticised the Act's notice, arguing that the regulations were "unconstitutional," "discriminatory," and against the "secular principle of citizenship" that the Constitution upholds.
Owaisi contends that the Modi government's law violates the constitution. “This law made by the Modi government four years ago is against the constitution. You cannot make laws on the basis of religion. There are several Supreme Court judgments on this. CAA is against the Right to Equality,” he has said.
Some critics of the CAA contend that the law violates the secular values contained in the Indian Constitution by excluding Muslims from its ambit and tying citizenship to religious identity.
On the other hand, the Centre has insisted that no national will lose their citizenship and that the CAA is about granting citizenship.
Additionally, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has declared that the BJP-led government will never compromise on the CAA and that it will never be retracted.