CAA might not fall within the scope of judicial review: Modi government tells Supreme Court

The Union government told the Supreme Court on Sunday that the legality of the 2019 Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) may not be subject to judicial review because matters of citizenship and foreign policy fall squarely within the purview of parliament.

The government asserted in its affidavit in response to a slew of public interest litigations (PILs) set for hearing in the Supreme Court on Monday that issues concerning the sovereign plenary power of parliament, particularly in regard to citizenship, cannot be challenged through the filing of PILs.

According to the affidavit, the power to exclude immigrants is an incident of a duly formed nation-sovereignty state's and immigration policy. The policy, it continued, has an impact on a country's foreign policy and, by extension, its security apparatus, and thus falls squarely within the purview of parliament.

"In matters pertaining to immigration policy and citizenship, it is the executive policy of the sovereign manifested through competent legislation that would govern decision-making." It is submitted that legislative policies in this regard are intended to be entrusted exclusively to elected representatives (to be carried out in accordance with the legislative procedure established by law)," said the government.

The affidavit filed through the Union Ministry of Home Affairs defending the legislation stated that the scope of PILs and their maintainability, particularly in matters concerning immigration policy, must be decided as a question of law by the Supreme Court because the question of entitlement and conferment of citizenship is within the plenary domain of the competent legislature.