Citizenship Amendment Act CAA perfectly legal, constitutional, can’t be questioned before the court, government tells Supreme Court

Citizenship Amendment Act CAA perfectly legal, constitutional, can’t be questioned before the court, government tells Supreme Court

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will not affect the legal, democratic or secular rights of citizens, the government today told the Supreme Court, defending the controversial law at the core of nationwide protests. The government also said the CAA is a matter concerning the sovereign power of parliament and “cannot be questioned” before the court.

“The CAA does not impinge upon any existing rights of a citizen. It won’t affect the legal, democratic or secular rights of people,” said the government in a preliminary affidavit to the Supreme Court.

“The CAA is perfectly legal and constitutional,” it asserted.

The court is hearing scores of petitions challenging that CAA, passed in parliament in December, which enables Indian citizenship for non-Muslim minorities from neighbouring Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan if they fled religious persecution and entered India before 2015.

“Parliament is competent to earmark the religious minorities in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan,” said the centre.

It argued that the doctrine of “reasonable classification” did provide for exceptions from equal application of law in certain situations.