NEW DELHI: The home ministry has been granted another extension by the parliamentary committee on subordinate legislation in the
Lok Sabha
, to frame the rules for the
Citizenship Amendment Act
, 2019. Sources said this is only a procedural formality since the last extension was expiring on Tuesday (January 9, 2024) and a further extension was required until the
CAA
rules are actually notified.
Once notified, the rules will be laid in both Houses of
Parliament
. The budget session, expected to begin in January end, will be the last one before the Lok Sabha elections are called.
As reported by TOI on January 3, 2024, a senior government functionary has said CAA rules would be notified “well before the Lok Sabha polls are announced”, enabling grant of citizenship to eligible migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan belonging to their six ‘minority’ communities.
An online system for application, processing and grant of citizenship under CAA is being explored by MHA.
“The rules are ready and the online portal is also in place and the entire process will be online. The applicants will have to declare the year when they entered India without travel documents. No document will be sought from the applicants,” the functionary had told TOI.
Earlier on December 27, 2023, home minister
Amit Shah
had, while addressing a BJP meeting in Kolkata, said that no one can stop the implementation of the CAA as it is the law of the land.
The latest extension granted by the parliamentary committee on subordinate legislation in the Rajya Sabha is expiring only in March end. Citing this deadline, junior home minister Ajay Mishra had in November 2023 declared that CAA rules would be in place by March 30, 2024.
According to the manual of parliamentary procedures, the rules for any legislation should be framed within six months of presidential assent or extension sought from the committees on subordinate legislation in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
The CAA was enacted in December 2019 and came into force on January 10, 2020.
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