Kolkata, Nov 10 A Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court on Monday refused to intervene based on the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed at the court, accusing the Centre of delaying the granting of certificates under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
The petition also argued in the PIL that because of this delay in granting of certificates, the people concerned are unable to make applications under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the Election Commission of India (ECI) in 12 Indian states and Union Territories, including West Bengal.
After a hearing in the matter on Monday, the Division Bench of Calcutta High Court’s Acting Chief Justice, Sujoy Paul, and Justice Chaitali Chatterjee observed that submissions could not be entertained under the PIL.
In the PIL filed by a Non-Government Organisation (NGO), it was argued that while on one hand the Union Government was delaying in granting certificates under CAA, on the other hand the ECI was not accepting the receipts for CAA application as documentary evidence on this count for the SIR.
In such a situation, there was every possibility that the individual concerned would not get the voting rights in the Assembly elections in West Bengal scheduled next year, the petitioner argued.
On the other hand, the counsel for the Union government assured the court that the complaints of the petitions on this count would be treated within the next 10 days. The Union Government’s counsel also accused the West Bengal government of delaying forwarding the applications under CAA to the Centre.
As per norm, the state government concerned is supposed to forward the applications under CAA to the Union government within 90 days. The state government’s counsel, in his counterargument, said that there had been instances where applicants concerned directly applied through the CAA portal instead going through the District Magistrates concerned.
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