CAA : Centre Notifies Committees In States/UTs To Process Applications As Per Citizenship Amendment Act 2019

Along with this, a gazette notification regarding the formation of an Empowered Committee and a District Level Committee in the states or Union territories for granting citizenship has also been notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs. This gazette notification has been issued in the exercise of powers under Section 6B of the Citizenship Act 1954. It may be noted that Section 6B was inserted by the CAA setting out the procedure for the acquisition of citizenship by naturalisation by migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan or Bangladesh, who belong to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian communities and who entered India before December 31, 2014.

As per the notification, applications for citizenship as per Section 6B will be made online through the portal https://indiancitizenshiponline.nic.in. The Empowered Committee will examine these applications through the District Level Committee. The Director (Census Operations) will head the former in each State and Union Territory. The Empowered Committee will also encompass the following members:

a. an officer in the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau b. jurisdictional Foreigners Regional Registration Officer c. the State Informatics Officer of National Informatics Centre of the State d. Post Master General of the State or Union Territory (or any other officer nominated by him, as required)

Further, the notification also stipulated that a representative from the Department of Home (of State) and Divisional Railway Manager shall be the invitees.

District-Level Committee

The Senior Superintendent or Superintendent of Post (Designated Officer) will head the district-level committee. Notably, the required members will also include a nominee of the Central Government.

This committee's role is pivotal as it will verify the documents submitted by the applicant. Following this, the Designated Officer shall administer to the applicant the oath of allegiance, as specified in the Second Schedule to the Citizenship Act, 1955. Thereafter, the officer will sign the oath and forward the same electronically to the Empowered Committee. This shall also accompany confirmation regarding document verification.

It may also be noted that the other member will be the District Informatics Officer. Further, a representative not below the rank of Naib Tehsildar or equivalent from the Office of District Collector and jurisdictional Station Master of Railways (if available) will be invitees.

Inquiry By Empowered Committee

Once the oath of allegiance and other verified documents are forwarded to the Empowered Committee, it shall make necessary inquiries to ascertain the applicant's suitability. For doing so, the Committee can also obtain a report from the security agency, which will be uploaded online and accessible to the Committee.

Pursuant to this, if the committee is satisfied with the applicant's suitability, a registration certificate, digitally signed by the Committee's chairperson, will be granted.

Finally, the notification also requires the Committee to maintain a register in accordance with the rules (as per online format) containing the details of registered persons. This register will be accessible to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Security Agency.

Brief Background

The CAA, which seeks to fast-track the process for getting Indian citizenship for non-Muslim migrants who fled from persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan and entered India before December 31, 2014, was passed by the Parliament in 2019.

As per the proviso introduced in Section 2(1)(b), migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi, Jain, and Christian religions from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan are eligible for citizenship by naturalization if they can establish their residency in India for five years instead of existing eleven years.

However, the implementation of the law was put on hold in view of the massive country-wide protests which took place against it. The protests were compounded by the Government's proposal to introduce a National Register of Citizens (NRC) along with the implementation of the CAA.

Critics of the law object to the religion-based exclusion of refugees from the benefit of CAA, arguing that linking Indian citizenship with religion undermines the country's secular character. Over a hundred writ petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the law's constitutionality. The Supreme Court, while agreeing to hear the matter, declined to stay the operation of the Act.

The Government, in its counter-affidavit, defended the Act, stating that the law was not affecting the citizenship of any Indian citizen and that mere under-inclusion of a category while granting benefit was not a ground to strike down a law.

Click here to read the notification