Supreme Court to hear CAA petitions from May 5

Supreme Court to begin final hearings on over 250 petitions challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act starting May 5.

The Supreme Court on Thursday (February 19, 2026) scheduled the final hearing from May 5 in over 250 petitions challenging the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 and its Rules, which accelerate the grant of Indian citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said the court would hear the case back to back from May 5 till May 7 and take it up again on May 12 to hear any rejoinder arguments before reserving judgment.

The court said it would first hear the “general” CAA petitions and then examine the complex issues concerning the citizenship law in Assam and Tripura.

A group of petitions have contended that the CAA and its Rules were a threat to Assam’s demography. The petitions have contended that 27 districts in Assam were brought under the purview of the CAA “for no reason at all”. They have argued that the CAA did not apply to tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution and the areas covered under ‘The Inner Line’ notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873. They said the cut-off date of December 31, 2014 for grant of citizenship under Section 6B(1) of the CAA contradicted Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, which mandated deportation for foreigners who had crossed over after March 25, 1971.

The case had last come up in March 2024 before a Bench led by then Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, for the petitioners, had then argued that the Act came into existence in 2019 and the government had waited for nearly five years to notify the Rules.