Last month, Parliament cleared the law to amend the Citizenship Act which empowers the government to grant citizenship to religious minorities from three Muslim- majority countries neighbouring India.
The law, seen as a forerunner to the rollout of the national register of citizens, has been sharply condemned on grounds saying that it discriminates people against their religion.
Statements of CJI came after witnessing protests over CAA and NRC nationwide. A bench headed by CJI Bobde expressed surprise over the petition and said this is happening for the first time ever that someone is seeking Act to be declared as constitutional.
"As it is, the country is going through difficult times," CJI SA Bobde said when the petition was mentioned, "Object should be to bring about peace. Such petitions don't help that."
He added, "There is a presumption of constitutionality of the law."
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The observation appeared when an advocate, Vineet Dhanda, sought the listing of his petition asking CAA to be declared constitutional and that implemented to all states thoroughly, taking action against activists, students, media houses spreading 'false rumours' about the Act.
The Supreme Court said it would hear petitions challenging the validity of the Citizenship Amendment Act as soon as violence stops.
Approved by Parliament in December 2019, the Citizenship Act fast-tracks naturalisation for illegal immigrants from six non-Muslim minority religious groups (in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh) who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.
Protests against the new law, sometimes deadly ones, have taken place across India for weeks. In response, the government has denied the charge that the policy is anti-Muslim, insisted that it is meant to give citizenship -- not take it -- and has launched an outreach programme.