The amendments introduced earlier than 2024 normal elections had concentrated the powers to course of the citizenship functions of members of six non-Muslim communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who entered India earlier than December 31, 2014 with none paperwork or illegally. File (Picture used for representational functions solely)
| Photograph Credit score: PTI
The Union Ministry of Residence Affairs (MHA) has transferred the processing of pending citizenship applications under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, from Empowered Committees — comprising Central authorities officers, together with these from the Census, Intelligence Bureau (IB) and postal departments — to District Collectors in eight States and Union Territories (UTs).
District Collectors in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal, Assam (besides tribal areas), Tripura (besides tribal areas), Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh have been authorised to course of CAA functions, as per the August 19 order, making the sooner association of multi-agency committee redundant.
The order is critical because the amendments to the CAA Guidelines, which first got here into impact on March 11, 2024, have been notified after the Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP) got here to energy in West Bengal. The amendments introduced in days earlier than 2024 normal elections had concentrated the powers to course of the citizenship functions of members of six non-Muslim communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who entered India earlier than December 31, 2014 with none paperwork or illegally.
The CAA was strongly opposed by the then Trinamool Congress (TMC) authorities in West Bengal. To bypass the function of the State authorities in processing the functions, MHA constituted a minimum of 4 Empowered Committees — two on the district degree, headed by Central authorities officers — to clear the citizenship functions. The committees have been created days earlier than the Meeting polls in West Bengal in April this yr.
A lot of the Matua group, comprising Hindu Namasudras with roots in Bangladesh, and an essential electoral block are the supposed beneficiaries of the CAA in West Bengal. Although the laws was introduced in for undocumented migrants, the Guidelines talked about a number of paperwork to be supplied by the candidates together with a doc issued by a authorities authority in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh following which a number of Matuas couldn’t discover their names within the voter checklist after the Particular Intensive Revision (SIR) train.
Citizenship is a topic below the Union Checklist of the Structure and State’s function may have are available in play in offering logistics corresponding to workplace area and police verification of candidates.
Citizenship Amendment Act: Legal issues and status of judicial proceedings | Explained
What the August 19 order states
The order issued by the MHA on August 19 states that every one functions pending earlier than the Empowered Committees and District Degree Committees in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal, Assam (besides tribal areas), Tripura (besides tribal areas), Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will likely be transferred to the involved Collector.
The order additionally makes the March 11, 2024 MHA notification implementing the Citizenship Modification Guidelines inapplicable to those jurisdictions. Two subsequent MHA orders issued in February and March 2026 have additionally been rescinded, whereas actions already taken below them have been protected.
The Citizenship (Third Modification) Guidelines, 2026 notified on August 19 empowers Collectors in these jurisdictions to obtain, scrutinise and eliminate functions for registration or naturalisation below Part 6B of Citizenship Act.
Beneath the amended guidelines, the Collector is required to confirm the paperwork submitted by an applicant, conduct any mandatory enquiry, administer the Oath of Allegiance and decide whether or not the applicant meets the eligibility necessities. If happy that the applicant is a match and correct individual, the Collector can grant Indian citizenship.
An utility may be rejected if the applicant fails to seem personally to subscribe to the appliance and take the oath regardless of being given affordable alternatives.
Printed – August 20, 2026 11:36 am IST
