The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has constituted two additional Committees in West Bengal to expedite the processing of citizenship applications under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), according to a gazette notification issued on March 2.
The move comes within 10 days of the Union government operationalising the process of granting citizenship under the CAA by notifying the formation of an Empowered Committee in the state to examine applications under the Act.
In the latest notification, the MHA stated that, in exercise of powers under Section 6B(1) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, read with sub-rules (1) and (3) of Rule 11A of the Citizenship Rules, 2009, two Empowered Committees for West Bengal have been constituted.
Each committee will be headed by an officer not below the rank of Deputy Secretary to the Government of India, to be nominated by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
The notification specified that each committee will include an officer of the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau not below the rank of Under Secretary to the Government of India; an officer not below the rank of Under Secretary to the Government of India, nominated by the jurisdictional Foreigners Regional Registration Officer; an officer not below the rank of Under Secretary to the Government of India, nominated by the State Informatics Officer of the National Informatics Centre in West Bengal; and the Postmaster General of West Bengal, or a postal officer nominated by the Postmaster General, not below the rank of Under Secretary to the Government of India.
Additionally, the committees will have two invitees: a representative from the office of the Principal Secretary (Home) or Additional Chief Secretary (Home) of the West Bengal government, and a representative of the jurisdictional Divisional Railway Manager.
The fresh notification comes amid ongoing political differences between the Union government and the Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal government, which has opposed the CAA and termed it discriminatory.
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is widely described as a discriminatory citizenship law by India’s Muslim communities, Opposition parties, and national and international rights bodies because it makes obtaining Indian citizenship easier for non-Muslim refugees from three Muslim-majority South Asian nations: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.
