Bengal, Kerala Say No To CAA: Can State Govts Refuse To Implement The Law?

New Delhi: The Centre on Monday announced the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), five years after it was passed in Parliament. The decision coming ahead of the Lok Sabha elections sparked furious reaction from various quarters, with Kerala and West Bengal Chief Ministers outrightly rejecting the policy in their respective states. 

Submitting the anti-CAA response, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan said, "The action of the central government, which notified the provisions of the Citizenship Amendment Act ahead of the elections, is to disturb the country. The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued a notification regarding the amendment of the Citizenship Act just before the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections."

"This is to divide the people, stir up communal feelings and undermine the basic principles of the constitution. This move to divide Indian citizens with equal rights should be unitedly opposed," he added.

On the other hand, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said, "This is BJP's work. As soon as elections are near, they start spreading information through news channels and then bring it to people." She further mentioned that Bengal won't allow the implementation of CAA. 

Can States Refuse to Implement CAA? 

Let us understand the important elements of the Constitution which deals with Union and State lists. The Seventh Schedule of the Constitution directs that which of the subjects come under the jurisdiction of the Central and State government.   

The Union list includes subjects including defence, foreign affairs, census, railways and citizenship and only Parliament holds the right to make laws in the mentioned subjects. Similarly, only a state government has the right to make laws on the subjects included in the state list- Police, Health, Forest and Road, among others. 

Constitutionally, the Indian states can't refuse to implement citizenship laws framed by the central government as the subjects falls in the domain of the Union list, according to the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. 

It further reflects that Parliament has exclusive rights to legislate on matters related to citizenship and states can't override laws passed by the central government which are included in its list. 

Further, Article 246 of the Constitution outlines the legislative powers between the Parliament and the state legislatures. Matters specified in the Union List, including citizenship, are solely within the jurisdiction of the Parliament, while matters listed in the State List are under the control of the state legislatures.

Hence, states are bound by the laws enacted by the Parliament and any attempt to refuse implementation of the citizenship law would stand as unconstitutional and legally untenable.