New Delhi, 19 March

Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to respond within three weeks to applications seeking a stay on the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024.

A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud posted the matter for resumed hearing on 9 April. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told the bench that he needed four weeks to file a reply to the 20 applications.

These applications have sought a stay on the Rules till the apex court disposes of the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019. "It (CAA) does not take away citizenship of any person," Mehta told the bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

The Centre had on March 11 paved the way for the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, with the notification of the relevant rules, four years after the contentious law was passed by Parliament to fast-track Indian citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before 31 December, 2014.