CAA: Security report to play key role in grant of citizenship
empowered committee on citizenship will consider a report by security agencies on the application made by refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before granting them citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019.
«The empowered committee may make such inquiry as it considers necessary for ascertaining the suitability of the applicant, including obtaining a report from the security agency, to be uploaded online by the agency and accessible to the committee,» stated the detailed order.
The committees at the state and Union Territory level are required to maintain an «online register containing the details of persons so registered or naturalised as a citizen of India, which shall be accessible to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the security agency,» the CAA rules noted. The CAA 2019 seeks to grant Indian citizenship to refugees who had sought shelter in India before December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution in three neighbouring countries — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
According to the notification issued by the Union home ministry late Monday night, the empowered committee will be headed by the director (census operations) of the state or union territory. It shall consist of an officer in the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB) not below the rank of deputy secretary to the Government of India, jurisdictional foreigner's regional registration officer (FRRO). The district-level committee, which has been tasked to collect documents from the applicants, will consist of only
