Issuance of domicile certificates in J&K to be made easier

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 28

After empowering Naib Tehsildars to issue domicile certificates, the J&K Administration is going to further amend and modify the existing rules to ease the process of getting the document.

After discussing the issue with Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam, Union Minister and Lok Sabha member from Udhampur-Doda constituency Dr Jitendra Singh said that the rules would be modified soon in this regard.

“After discussion with Jammu & Kashmir LG Sh Manoj Sinha & CS Sh Subrahmanium, the UT Govt has agreed in principle to amend/modify rules for ease in issue of Domicile Certificate. Formal orders being issued soon,” he tweeted.

The minister further said: “This will particularly facilitate issuing Domicile Certificate to children producing PRC of any of the parents and women from outside married to PRC holder men.”

Earlier, the J&K Government had amended rules to authorise Naib Tehsildars to issue domicile certificates.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by Article 309 of the Constitution of India, read with Section 15 of the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Decentralisation and Recruitment) Act, 2010, the government hereby makes the following amendment in the Jammu and Kashmir Grant of Domicile Certificate (Procedure) Rules, 2020,” read a notification issued by the General Administration Department (GAD) on September 19.

The amendment in Rule 5, Clause 1 authorises both Tehsildar and Naib Tehsildar to issue domicile certificates to Permanent Resident Certificate (PRC) holders and their children, while naming the Deputy Commissioner as the appellate authority.

Till September 21, the J&K Government had issued over 18.52 lakh domicile certificates against 21.99 lakh applications.

As per the official data, 30,445 domicile certificates were issued to the non-state subjects, excluding West Pakistani Refugees, Valmiki and Gorkhas.

While 4,97,238 certificates have been issued in Kashmir division, 13,35,643 domicile certificates have been granted in Jammu division.

The numbers include 17,978 domicile certificates issued to West Pakistani Refugees, 1,825 to Valmiki community and 755 to Gorkhas.

The process of issuing domicile certificates in the UT started in the month of June.