Being Citizen Of India Prerequisite To Issuance Of Bonafide Resident Certificate: HP HC [Read Order]

Being a citizen of India is a condition requisite for being granted a bonafide domicile/resident certificate, the Himachal Pradesh High Court has ruled.

Justice Ajay Mohan Goel was hearing a challenge to the order passed by the Deputy Commissioner whereby the request of the petitioner for issuance of bonafide certificate in her favour stands rejected. The case of the petitioner was that she is residing in Shimla since the year 1997 and in terms of the provisions, as are contained in Hand Book on Personnel Matters (Vol-I), issued by Personnel Department of the Government of Himachal Pradesh, she is entitled to Bonafide Himachali certificate. The impugned order passed by Deputy the Commissioner rejected the claim of the petitioner primarily on the ground that the Bonafide Himachali Certificate can be issued to a person, who happens to be a citizen of India and as the petitioner is not a citizen of India, therefore, she is not entitled for issuance of Bonafide Himachali certificate.

On behalf of the petitioner, it was urged that the order so passed by the competent authority is not sustainable in the eyes of law as citizenship is not a condition precedent for issuance of Bonafide Himachali certificate. It was submitted that similar certificates stand issued to persons similarly situated as the petitioner.

The Single Judge noted that the petitioner is primarily relying her claim on the contents of Hand Book on Personnel Matters (Vol. I), in which a bonafide Himachali has been defined and in terms whereof a person is entitled for the Bonafide Himachali certificate, if he/she has been a resident of State of Himachal Pradesh for a period of 15 years. The Hand Book on Personnel Matters incidentally is a book which has been issued by the Department of Personnel of the Government of Himachal Pradesh in three volumes, which contains various notifications etc. which have been issued by the Government of Himachal Pradesh from time to time pertaining to the mode and manner of offering appointment to persons in government jobs and other matters incidental thereto.

"In my considered view, the contention of learned Counsel for the petitioner that citizenship has got nothing to do with the issuance of Bonafide Certificate does not has any merit", observed the bench.

Justice Goel explained that the reason as to why issuance of bonafide certificate requires a person to be the citizen of India is that more often than not it is a condition precedent to possess Bonafide Himachali certificate to be eligible to apply for a job in a Government Department of the State of Himachal Pradesh.

The bench noted that it is not in dispute that the petitioner is not a national of India because it is an admitted fact that she is a national of Nepal. The impugned order recorded that the applicant had tried to prove her citizenship on the basis of her birth certificate issued by the Registrar, (Births & Deaths) Municipal Corporation, Shimla in which she is shown to be born at Bachiter Bhawan, Dingra Estate, Boileauganj, Shimla on 07.02.1997. It further noted that Section 3(1)(b) of the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955 is applicable to the applicant which provides that "except as provided in sub-section(2), every person born in India, on or after the 1st day of July, 1987, but before the commencement of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003 (6 of 2004) and either of whose parents is a citizen of India at the time of his birth; shall be considered as an Indian. Per the impugned order, the applicant had failed to produce any authentic document which could prove that one of her parents was a citizen of India at the time of her birth and thus her claim for the issuance of the certificate failed on this ground.

"In my considered view, the findings so returned by the Deputy Commissioner are correct findings because as the petitioner does not happen to be a citizen of India, refusal of Bonafide Himachali Certificate to her by the Deputy Commissioner, cannot be faulted with", held the Single Judge.

Click Here To Download Order

[Read Order]