New Delhi: The Union Home Ministry on Monday formed two more committees in West Bengal to decide on applications seeking Indian citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act, according to a government order.
The state already has two such committees. However, officials said that due to the large number of applications, a decision has been taken to form two additional committees.
The empowered committee will be chaired by a officer not below the rank of Deputy Secretary to the Government of India, nominated by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
In a gazette notification issued on Monday, the ministry said that each empowered committee will also include an officer from the Sub-Intelligence Bureau not below the rank of Under-Secretary of the Government of India; An officer not below the rank of Under-Secretary of the Government of India nominated by the Regional Aliens Registration Officer concerned; and an officer not below the rank of Under-Secretary of the Government of India nominated by the State Informatics Officer of the National Informatics Centre, West Bengal.
The committee will also include the Director-General of Posts of West Bengal or a postal officer nominated by the Director-General of Posts, not below the rank of Under-Secretary of the Government of India, she added.
The notification said that there would be two invitees representing the office of the Chief Secretary or Additional Chief Secretary to the Government of West Bengal; and a representative of the Regional Railway Director of the Railways.
According to the notification issued on March 11, 2024, the committee empowered under the Citizenship Law is headed by the Director and includes seven other members.
The Center implemented the Citizenship Act, 2019 on March 11, 2024, and notified the rules four years after Parliament passed the controversial law to speed up the citizenship process for unregistered non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India before December 31, 2014.
This article was generated from an automated news feed without any modifications to the text.
