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Kolkata, Nov 10 (IANS) A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Monday refused to intervene on the basis of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the court accusing the Center of delaying the granting of certificates under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
The petitioner also argued in the PIL that due to this delay in granting the certificates, the concerned people are unable to apply 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 hearing the case on Monday, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Chaitali Chatterjee of the Calcutta High Court said that the arguments under the PIL cannot be considered.
In a PIL filed by a non-governmental organization (NGO), it was argued that while on one hand the central government was delaying the granting of certificates under the CAA, on the other hand the ECI was not accepting receipts of CAA applications as documentary evidence for SIRs.
The petitioner argued that in such a situation, there is every possibility that the person concerned will not get the right to vote in the assembly elections to be held in West Bengal next year.
On the other hand, the Central Government counsel assured the court that the complaints of the petitions in this regard would be disposed of within the next 10 days. The central government’s counsel also accused the West Bengal government of delaying sending the applications under CAA to the Centre.
As per the standard, the concerned state government has to send the applications under CAA to the central government within 90 days. The state government’s counsel said in its counter that there are instances where the concerned applicants have applied directly through the CAA portal instead of approaching the respective district magistrates.
–IANS
Source/Red