The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear pleas seeking a direction to the Centre to stay the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Rules, 2024, till the pendency of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, before the apex court.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took note of senior advocate Kapil Sibal’s submission, appearing for the Indian Union Muslim League, that once citizenship is granted to migrant Hindus, it cannot be taken back, and hence, the issues needed an early hearing.

“We will hear this on Tuesday. There are 190 plus cases. All of them will be heard. We will place a full batch with the IAs (Interim applications),” the CJI said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said there were 237 petitions, and four interim applications have been filed against the implementation of the rules in those pending ones.

The applications were filed after the Centre implemented the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 by notifying the rules four years after Parliament passed the contentious law to fast-track citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.

The application, filed by the IUML, one of the petitioners challenging the citizenship law, seeks the court’s direction to ensure no coercive action is taken against people belonging to the Muslim community pending adjudication of the writ petitions.

Muslims cannot apply for Indian citizenship under the CAA.

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