New Delhi, June 02 (KMS): The Indian Union of Muslim League (IUML) has moved the Supreme Court to stay an order issued by the Indian Home Ministry on May 28, empowering the collectors of certain districts to grant the Indian citizenship to the non-Muslim migrants from the neighbouring countries despite the pendency of its 2019 writ petition to declare as void the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019.
IULM has prayed before the court to halt the said order till the 2019 writ petition is decided by the court. The said petition challenges the related amendments in the Foreigners Order 1948 and the Passport (Entry into India) rules 1950.
In its pending writ petition, the IUML had through PK Kunhlikutty (72) of Kerala sought to strike down the amended Act as unconstitutional for violation of Articles 14, 15 and 21 for discriminating among persons on the basis of their faith and religion. In its new petition, it cited as illegal the Ministry order to grant citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, but not the Muslims.
During the hearing of its 2019 petition, New Delhi had prayed not to stay the amended Act since its rules have not been famed, the petition said, alleging that the May 28 order is “an attempt to circumvent the assurance given to this court, sought to implement their mala fide designs envisaged under the Amended Act.”
