SC issues notice in plea to transfer petitions challenging Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 from High Courts to Supreme Court

The Supreme Court today issued notice in the Central Government's plea to transfer all petitions challenging the validity of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA) from various High Courts to the Apex Court.

The matter had been mentioned before the Bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant on Wednesday. The transfer petition is now likely to be heard on January 22.

The petition was filed following developments at the Karnataka High Court where a petition of this nature has been filed.

Earlier this week, a High Court Division Bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Hemant Chandangoudar stated that High Court would take up the case as there was no specific order from the Supreme Court barring it from hearing the matter. The petition filed by the People's Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) was thereafter scheduled to be taken up by the High Court for preliminary hearing on February 25.

Last month, the Supreme Court had issued notice in a batch of 60 petitions filed on the subject. These petitions are scheduled to be heard by the top Court on January 22.

Pleas concerning the introduction of the Citizenship Amendment Act and its fallout have been filed before various courts across the country - right from the Supreme Court to the lower courts.

The petitions range from appeals for protection from the State in conducting protests against the CAA to restricting protests sans State permission. The Karnataka High Court is also one among the High Courts that is dealing with such a matter.

Even as the matters remain pending before the courts, widespread protests are taking place across the country.