Supreme Court to start hearing petitions challenging Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 from May 5

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said that it will commence the final hearing on May 5 over 200 pleas including the lead one of IUML challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA). The CAA seeks to grant citizenship to migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain and Parsi communities who came to the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalaya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi issued procedural directions with regard to final hearings on the petitions which are pending since 2019-2020. The bench said it will hear petitioners including the lead the Indian Union of Muslim League (IUML) for one-and-a-half days and the Centre will be granted a day for advancing its arguments. The CJI said the bench would conclude the hearing on the petitions on May 12. The bench asked the parties to file additional documents and submissions within four weeks. The bench said it will hear the pleas related to pan-India application of the CAA first and then take note of the petitions pertaining to Assam and Tripura later.