Guwahati: The petitions opposing the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) were not heard by the Supreme Court of India (SC) on Tuesday, despite initial reports that they would.
New reports state that the hearing has been postponed and will now take place after the holiday break.
It should be noted that the Supreme Court’s winter break is slated to run from December 19 to December 31.
Meanwhile, regional organisations like the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) have condemned Assam and Tripura’s administrations for failing to submit the undertaking related to the problem by the deadline.
The main driving force behind the demonstrations against the contentious citizenship bill, Assam parties stated their optimism that the Supreme Court will uphold justice and prevent the northeastern states from being covered by the law.
Earlier in the day reports emerged that the SC will hear petitions challenging the controversial CAA today.
The petitions were supposed to be heard by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud.
In its previous hearing, the SC had appointed two lawyers, Advocates Pallavi Pratap, advocate for petitioner Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Kanu Agrawal (Central government lawyer), as nodal counsel.
The hearing took place on October 31 in front of the bench comprising the then CJI UU Lalit, Justices Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi.
The court had earlier directed, “Having noted that there are various pleas projecting multiple views, resolution of entire controversy can be achieved if two or three matters are taken as lead matters and convenience compilations of all counsels are prepared well in advance. This will make proceedings convenient. Pleadings in IUML are complete and were filed by Adv Pallavi Pratap. We appoint Ms Pratap and Mr Kanu Agrawal as nodal counsel. These counsels are requested to have common compilation of all relevant documents.”
“All counsel to share written submissions not exceeding three pages. Nodal counsel can designate one or two other matters as lead matters keeping in mind geographical/religious classification,” it added.
The Assam and Tripura governments had filed petitions to voice their concerns, and the Court had ordered them to submit their reply within two weeks.