Asaduddin Owaisi Files Application in Supreme Court Against Citizenship Amendment Rules 2024

Asaduddin Owaisi Seeks Stay on Implementation of Citizenship Amendment Act Provisions

In a series of petitions aimed at halting the enforcement of the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules 2024, Asaduddin Owaisi, the leader of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), has submitted another application.

Numerous petitioners have approached the Supreme Court following the government’s notification of the rules, filing interim stay applications in their ongoing writ petitions. These rules were put forth by the Centre to implement the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (Act), which is currently the subject of multiple legal battles.

In his application, Owaisi has requested that no applications for citizenship status be considered under the Act until the main petition is resolved. Additionally, he has urged that no recourse be permitted under the proviso to Section 2(1)(b) of the Act.

This proviso, which lies at the heart of the dispute, stipulates that individuals belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, or Christian communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or Pakistan who entered India before December 31, 2014, without proper documentation, will not be deemed “illegal migrants.”

It is worth noting that Owaisi had previously filed a petition before the Supreme Court in 2019, arguing that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act “fails miserably” to meet the standards set by Article 14.

However, the implementation of the law was suspended in response to widespread protests across the country. These protests were compounded by the government’s proposal to introduce a National Register of Citizens (NRC) alongside the implementation of the CAA.

Critics of the law object to its religiously-based exclusion of refugees from the CAA’s benefits, contending that tying Indian citizenship to religion undermines the country’s secular principles. More than a hundred writ petitions challenging the constitutionality of the law have been filed in the Supreme Court. While agreeing to hear the case, the Supreme Court declined to suspend the Act’s operation.

In its counter-affidavit, the Government defended the Act, asserting that it did not affect the citizenship of any Indian citizen and that the mere exclusion of a category from receiving benefits was not sufficient grounds to strike down a law.

On March 11, the Union Government issued the rules to implement the CAA and announced the establishment of committees at the state/union territory level to handle applications under the Citizenship Amendment Act.