Country going through difficult times, says SC refusing to entertain plea on CAA; calls for peace

The country is going through difficult times and there is so much violence that endeavour should be for peace, the Supreme Court observed on Thursday while refusing to entertain a plea seeking the Citizenship Amendment Act be declared constitutional.

Expressing surprise over the petition, a bench headed by Chief Justie S A Bobde said this was the first time that someone was seeking that an Act be declared as constitutional.

The bench, also comprising justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant, said it will hear the petitions challenging validity of CAA when the violence stops.

"There is so much of violence going on. The country is going through difficult times and the endeavour should be for peace... This court's job is to determine validity of a law and not declare it as constitutional," the CJI Bobde said during the hearing.

The observation was made after advocate Vineet Dhanda sought the court's intervention to declare CAA as constitutional and a direction to all states for implementation of the Act.

It is only the Supreme Court which can help in clarification of the present situation and guide "confused" citizens of this country who are being misguided, he said.

As the bench remained unimpressed, the counsel appearing for petitioner Puneet Kaur Dhanda, withdrew the petition with liberty to intervene in the similar matters.

The apex court in its order said, "After some arguments, counsel appearing for the petitioner prays for withdrawal of this petition with liberty to intervene in the petition(s) on the similar issue pending before this Court. Prayer is allowed. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed as withdrawn with the liberty aforesaid."