New Delhi:  The Supreme Court this morning made it clear that it will not grant any stay on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) without hearing the Centre and said it may refer pleas challenging the validity of the Act to a larger Constitution Bench. 

A Bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde is hearing a batch of 143 pleas challenging the  validity of CAA.

Attorney General Venugopal told the Bench that the Central Government wanted time to respond to pleas which have not been served on it. 

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal urged the Bench to put on hold  the operation of CAA and postpone the exercise of the National Population Register (NPR) for the time being. The Apex Court has said it will not grant any stay on CAA without hearing the Centre on the matter.

Amid widespread protests against the CAA, the Supreme Court granted the Centre four weeks time to respond on all the petitions challenging the validity of the CAA. 

The Supreme Court has also asked the High Courts not to entertain any pleas on CAA until the Apex Court finish deciding this matter.   

The Supreme Court started hearing 143 pleas, both for and against CAA in a packed courtroom. With representatives of all 143 petitioners apparently present in the Chief Justice’s court, the room remained packed to the brim. 

However, this seemed to have annoyed CJI Bobde, who said that the noise is such that he is unable to hear a thing. 

The Bench will now work out the schedule for hearing the cases and take up the cases after 5 weeks to pass interim orders. Assam, Tripura Accords and changes in citizenship will be considered separately and the SC has also asked for a list of cases from these two States.