The Supreme Court on Monday said that it would begin hearing the petitions challenging the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and Rules in May this year.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi sought to know from the lawyers how long they would take to make submissions. It ordered,

"There are two sets of cases assailing CAA 2019. These matters were categorised in two groups, Assam-Tripura and rest of the country. The nodal counsels appointed will identify the matters falling in first and second group and the list shall be submitted to the registry in two weeks. Registry shall thereafter segregate in two categories and the same shall be listed on seriatum for final hearing in the week commencing May 5, 2026. Petitioners shall be heard on first half of May 5, and then another half on May 6 for petitioners and then half day on May 7 to respondents and rejoinder on May 12."

243 petitions have been filed challenging the CAA, which was passed by parliament on December 11, 2019. It got the President's assent the following day. On the same day, IUML moved the Supreme Court to challenge the law. Subsequently, a large number of petitions came to be filed.

The CAA and Rules aim to grant citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Parsis who arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014, from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

The CAA amends Section 2 of the Citizenship Act of 1955 which defines “illegal migrants”.

It added a new proviso to Section 2(1)(b) of the Citizenship Act. As per the same, persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, and who have been exempted by the Central government under the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, or the Foreigners Act, 1946, shall not be treated as “illegal migrant”. Consequently, such persons shall be eligible to apply for citizenship under the 1955 Act.

However, the law specifically excludes the Muslim community from the proviso, triggering protests across the country and a slew of petitions before the Supreme Court.

The petitioners challenging the law have submitted that the CAA discriminates against Muslims on the basis of religion. Such religious segregation is without any reasonable differentiation and violates right to quality under Article 14, it has been contended.

On December 18, 2019, the apex court had issued notice to the Union of India on that challenge.

But the Court had not stayed the law since the Rules were not notified which meant that the Act was in limbo.

However, in a sudden move, the Central government on March 11, 2024 notified the rules, which effectively brought into force the CAA.

This led to a slew of applications before the Court seeking a stay on the Act and Rules.

That month, the Supreme Court had sought the response of the Central government to a plea for a stay on the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, but refused an interim stay on the same.