CJI led constitutional bench to hear pleas on Citizenship Amendment Act on Sep 12

A day after listing of the pleas filed pertaining to the constitutional validity of the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019, the Supreme Court will be hearing the bunch of writ petitions on September 12.

Chief Justice of India UU Lalit led Bench will hear the matter after the Supreme Court issued the notice in the matter in December 2019. The CAA came into effect on 10 January 2020. Justice S Ravindra Bhat will also be a part of the bench.

Over 200 petitions are presently pending before the Supreme Court which challenge the 2019 Act. It may be noted that in December 2019, the Bench comprising CJI Bobde and Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant had asked the Centre to file a response by the second week of January.

According to the petitions, the Act, which liberalises and expedites the citizenship process for non-Muslim immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, encourages discrimination based on religion.
After that, the Central Government was given four weeks in January by the Supreme Court to answer to roughly 140 writ petitions contesting the controversial Act's constitutionality.

Meanwhile, the Constitutional Bench comprising of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud, M.R. Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and P.S. Narasimha were apprised by Senior Advocate, Ms. Indira Jaising on Wednesday who set out directions for scheduling the hearing dates on November 1.

The Constitutional Bench was asked, among other things, whether the vested interest would be harmed by the matter's hearing being delayed.

According to Solicitor General, Mr. Tushar Mehta, the Bench may need to go into the more significant citizenship-related problems mentioned in the reference order, in order to evaluate the effect of delay as a preliminary issue.