After two years of the CAA, Centre yet to notify rules

January 9 was the last day of the extension the ministry had sought from the two parliamentary committees in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha to frame the rules

PGurus Newsdesk

January 10, 2022

January 9 was the last day of the extension the ministry had sought from the two parliamentary committees in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha to frame the rules

MHA didn’t respond if an extension has been sought from House committees

Twenty-five months after the Cabinet cleared the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019 and the Centre is yet to notify on the rules of the Act.

Till Sunday, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had not notified the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 rules even after the third extended deadline since the Act was passed.

January 9 was the last day of the extension the Ministry had sought from the two parliamentary committees in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha to frame the rules.
Earlier, the Ministry had sought time till April 9, 2021, and then July 9, 2021, from the committees to notify the rules which are to be published in the Gazette of India.

The Centre responded to a Right to Information query filed by the newspaper, The Hindu, asking for the status of the framing of rules for the Act. “It is to inform that the rules under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 are under preparation,” Director (Citizenship) Foreigners Division B C Joshi said in the RTI response.

However, it is still not clear whether the Ministry has sought for additional time to notify rules that will govern the CAA. Without rules, the Act cannot be implemented.

The CAA was passed by Parliament on December 11, 2019, and the Act was notified within 24 hours on December 12. In January 2020, the Ministry notified that the Act will come into force from January 10, 2020.

Earlier the Centre had issued a gazette notification granting powers under existing rules to authorities in 13 districts of Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab to accept, verify and approve citizenship applications from members of minority communities hailing from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.

[With Inputs from IANS]

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