Kummanam Rajasekharan challenges Kerala govt suit against CAA in SC
17 Jan 2020
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Former president of the BJP in Kerala and former governor of Mizoram, Kummanam Rajasekharan has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Kerala government’s petition against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
Rajasekharan said the state government is wasting public funds by engaging in worthless litigation against the centre and that the Left Front government in Kerala did not even consult the governor of the state before moving the petition.
He also sought permission to be impleaded into the petition against CAA, in support of the central legislation. The petition is filed by Rajasekharan and one Ajikumar, a social worker, as per the details of the application.
The CAA aims to provide citizenship to those Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian refugees from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan fleeing persecution on the basis of their religion. The Kerala government argues that CAA is discriminatory for excluding migrants from all countries which India shares borders with like Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Bhutan, saying that there have been trans-border migrants from these countries as well.
Rajasekharan in his petition argues that since Buddhism is the state religion in Sri Lanka and Bhutan, the religious minorities there are also Hindus, Christian and Muslims. It also wants the Kerala government to provide proof if these minorities are facing prosecution in those countries.
“The case of the plaintiff is that the above said minorities are excluded in the impugned Act and therefore it is discriminatory in nature. Though such a contention is made it is not explained how and whether the above said minorities are facing religious persecution in those countries," the plea reads.
Further, it argues that there is no basis to say that the CAA will affect the social and fundamental rights of Indians, especially the residents of Kerala.
“A decision has been taken to unnecessarily to spend public money on a suit which has no legal and sound basis. Therefore, Chief Minister Vijayan along with the other Kerala cabinet ministers, who decided in favour of filing this suit, must be asked to pay the cost of the litigation," the plea says.
The petitioners also wants the court to pass an order to realise the cost incurred by the state of Kerala in filing this suit from the ministers of the Kerala cabinet, including chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Kerala is the first state to move the SC against CAA calling it discriminatory.
Meanwhile, the centre today convened a conference of the chief secretaries and administrators of states and union territories, respectively, in New Delhi, to work out the modalities of the Census 2021.
The conference discussed the role of the states in the Census and the also on how the data collected in the Census helps in framing policies for the welfare of the people of the country.
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