Supreme Court ‘No’ To Grant Stay On CAA-NPR

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to pass any order to restrain the operation of Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) or National Population Register (NPR).

The top court gave four weeks time to the Centre to file counter affidavit and the hearing will take place in the fifth week. A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde also indicated the probability of constituting a Constitution Bench to take up the matter on the next date of hearing.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) challenging the new law, urged the court to postpone the process for a few months. However, Attorney General K.K. Venugopal opposed it saying it was equivalent to a stay. "It means as good as granting stay on the operation of the law," said the AG.

Then the Chief Justice said: "We aren't going to pass any such order today." The apex court said that the anti-CAA petitions from Assam and Tripura will be heard separately. The top court observed that Assam's problem with CAA is different from rest of country in the backdrop of earlier cut off date for citizenship was March 24, 1971, which is under the newly amended citizenship law is Dec 31, 2014. Therefore, it is essential to segregate the Assam anti-CAA petitions for separate hearing from other pleas challenging CAA.

On a transfer petition filed by the Centre, the top court also restrained all High Courts from passing any rider on the CAA. (IANS)

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