Centre avoided stay of CAA five years ago saying rules had not been framed, says IUML plea in SC

The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) on March 12 moved the Supreme Court against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019 and its rules. It highlighted how the Centre averted a stay of the implementation of the controversial CAA in the Supreme Court nearly five years ago by arguing that the rules had not been framed. “These persons are already in India and they do not have any threat of being deported or expelled from India. There was no urgency,” the IUML said.

The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) on March 12 moved the Supreme Court seeking a stay of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019 and its rules notified by the government on March 11.

The IUML highlighted how the Centre averted a stay of the implementation of the controversial CAA in the Supreme Court nearly five years ago by arguing that the rules had not been framed.

Now, after four-and-half years of ominous quiet, the IUML, whose petition leads the 250 ones challenging the CAA, said the government had suddenly notified the rules even as the case remained pending in the Supreme Court.

“The petitioner had pressed for a stay of the Act. However, the Union of India had told the Supreme Court that the rules have not been framed and therefore the implementation will not take place. The writ petitions have been pending for 4.5 years,” the IUML, represented by advocates Haris Beeran and Pallavi Pratap, said.

The IUML sought a stay of the Citizenship Amendment Rules notified by the government on March 11. The rules would govern the actual implementation of the CAA at the ground level.

The rules facilitate a “highly truncated and fast-tracked process for grant of citizenship to illegal migrants” belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, Christian communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan who enter into India on or before December 31, 2014.

The rules have done away with the independent and tiered scrutiny of applications of citizenship by District Collectors on the ground, and recommendations of State governments as to the wisdom of granting citizenship to the applicants have been done away with. The Citizenship Rules of 2009 had required the Centre to consult the State governments in the grant of citizenship process.