A three-judge Supreme Bench will hear the petitions challenging the CAA

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said it will hear the petitions challenging the constitutionality of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) on October 31.

A bench comprising Chief Justice U.U. Lalit and Justice SR Bhat noted that the matter would be referred to a three-judge bench.
The CAA seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

The bench heard around 200 petitions on the matter and issued directions to complete the procedure.
The Supreme Court asked the Center to file its reply on the petitions and sought responses from the states of Assam and Tripura as well as on specific petitions.

During the hearing on Monday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told the bench that several issues had been raised in the petitions filed before the Supreme Court.
“Our reply has been filed as far as some amendments and challenges are concerned. In some cases, our reply is yet to be filed,” he said.

In January 2020, the Supreme Court clarified that it will not stay the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act without hearing the Centre.
Seeking a response from the central government within four weeks on a batch of petitions challenging the CAA, the Supreme Court had also stayed the country’s high courts from processing pending petitions on the issue.

Several petitions have been filed challenging the constitutional validity of the amended law, including Congress MP Jairam Ramesh, Muslim body Jamiat Ulema Hind, All Assam Students Union (AASU), Peace Party, CPI , NGO ‘Rehai Munch’, Advocate ML. Sharma and law students have also approached the Supreme Court challenging the law.