The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to stay the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act until it adjudicated on a batch of over 230 petitions pending since 2019.

In its application filed through advocate Pallavi Pratap, the IUML urged the apex court to declare the “the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, along with Order 3A of the Foreigners Order 1948 and the connected rules framed as void as they violated Articles 14 (right to equality), 15 (non-discrimination) and 21 (life and personal liberty) by “discriminating among persons on the basis of their faith and religion”.

The IUML said it had challenged the CAA after it was passed by Parliament on December 11, 2019, and the Centre had at that time assured the top court that the legislation would not be implemented as the rules had not been framed yet.

“The Impugned CAA Rules, 2024, creates a highly truncated and fast-tracked process for grant of citizenship to persons covered under the exemption created by Section 2(1)(b) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 defines who is an ‘illegal migrant’ introduced by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act… is manifestly arbitrary and creates an unfair advantage in favour of a class of persons on the grounds solely of their religious identity, which is impermissible under Articles 14 and 15,” it added.

In a separate application, the DYFI, through advocate Biju P. Raman, assailed the decision as a step towards encouraging the entry of “illegal/ undocumented migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan”.