Supreme court refused to stay CAA/NPR-issues notice to centre..

New Delhi, Jan 27 (HS): Refusing to stay on the National Population Register (NPR) process, the Supreme Court on Monday has issued a notice to Centre over a bunch of fresh petitions challenging Citizenship (Amendment) Act and NPR and has also tagged the pleas along with other CAA matters which are scheduled to be heard later.

The petition filed in the Supreme court has said that the information that would be collected in NPR was not guaranteed to be protected from misuse. “Information being collected under the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003 is not guaranteed any protection from misuse under the said rules. This is materially different than the information collected for Aadhaar or the Census, wherein the information/data collected is guaranteed protection and security by way of statute,” the petition has said.

The petition also said, “The collection of such data may lead to possible unsanctioned state surveillance of private citizens who have not engaged in unlawful activity. The entire exercise of creation and updation of the National Population Register is a gross invasion of the privacy of private citizens.”

Making clear it will not stay the Citizenship (Amendment) Act without hearing the Centre, the Supreme Court gave the government four weeks to respond to petitions challenging the CAA and said a five-judge Constitution bench will hear the matter.

Supreme Court had recently heard a bunch of nearly 150 petitions challenging the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) law while more petitions are still being filed. The bill was enforced to give Indian citizenship to the persecuted minorities in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.