SC Issues Summons On Kerala's Suit Against Citizenship Amendment Act

The Supreme Court Registry on Tuesday issued summons to the Union of India on the suit filed by the State of Kerala challenging the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019.

The summons has been served through the Attorney General for the Central Government.

It was on January 13 that Kerala filed the suit invoking Article 131 of the Constitution of India.

The suit prays for a decree declaring that the CAA is violative of Articles 14, 21 and 25 of the Constitution as well as violative of the basic structure principle of secularism enshrined in Constitution.The suit also challenges the Passport (Entry to India) Amendment Rules 2015, and Foreigners (Amendment) Order 2015, which had regularized the stay of non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who had entered India before December 31, 2014 on the condition that they had fled religious persecution from their home countries.

The suit challenges the CAA on similar grounds as in the various other petitions which have been filed in the SC, contending that the religion-based exclusion of migrants from the protection of the Act amounts to religious discrimination, violating Article 14 of the Constitution. It is contended that the classification of migrants and countries in the CAA is not based on any "intelligible differentia" and that the same has no "rational nexus" with the purported purpose of the Act. Therefore, the classification is stated to be unreasonable and discriminatory. It is also urged that the Act violates the secular character of the Indian Constitution by linking citizenship with religion.

The Kerala legislature had passed a resolution against CAA on December 31. Kerala government has also stayed the preparatory works in relation to National Population Register, which is believed to be a first step towards National Register of Citizens.

Kerala's suit is fifth instance of case under Article 131 against a central legislation.

On January 22, the Supreme Court had granted four weeks time to the Centre to reply to as many as 140 petitions filed against the CAA.