No rejection of CAA's stay, says Congress

Neither Congress MP Jairam Ramesh nor four other main petitioners have sought interim stay of the new Citizenship (Amendment) Act but the Supreme Court issued notices on two issues, including the stay sought by some parties. Senior Congress leader and Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared for Ramesh, said no order has been passed on the stay except issue of notice to the Centre and yet the media was misled that the stay has been refused by the Court.

He told a press conference at the AICC HQ that he did no seek any stay since the Act is still not implementable as its rules and regulations are not yet published.

Singhvi said the petition of

Jairam Ramesh is based on three grounds. First, the Act is unconstitutional. Second, it violates the international agreements. Third, it violates the Centre's agreements with the states like the Assam accord and Tripura agreement. Though India has not signed the international refugee convention as contended by Home Minister Amit Shah, but it is signatory to the torture convention many decades ago and that is violated by the CAA. Singhvi said the CAA also violates the customary international laws that have evolved over decades. Singhvi said implementation of the Act would be also difficult since it nowhere mentions persecution in the main text nor does it discloses the inquiry to be done to establish the religious persecution as underlined in the Bill's statement of objects.