Despite opposition, J&K govt continues to issue domicile certificates

Despite huge opposition from regional political parties and separatists, Jammu and Kashmir government continued to issue domicile certificates to non-locals, who fulfill the eligibility according to the new Domicile law.

On Saturday Divisional Commissioner, Jammu Sanjeev Verma distributed 50 domicile certificates among those sections of the society who have been residing in J&K for the last more than 70 years but were not eligible for citizenship rights due to Article 370.

The certificates were distributed among West Pakistani refugees, people belonging to the downtrodden sections such as the Balmiki Samaj, Gorkhas and others, an official spokesperson said. West Pakistani refugees were part of the Parliamentary electoral roll but not of the erstwhile state electoral roll.

The new domicile law was passed after the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A, which gave special status to the erstwhile state by prohibiting outsiders from buying land, and reserving jobs for residents of J&K.

Under the new domicile rules, all those persons and their children who have resided for 15 years in Jammu and Kashmir or have studied for seven years and appeared in class 10th or 12th examination in an educational institution in the Union Territory are eligible for grant of domicile.

Children of Central government officials, all India service officers, officials of PSUs and autonomous body of Central government, public sector banks, officials of statutory bodies, Central universities and recognised research institutes, who have served in J&K for a total period of ten years will also be eligible for Domicile status.

Regional parties, including People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and National Conference (NC), and Hurriyat Conference have termed the issuance of domicile certificates to non-locals as “first major step towards changing the demography of the Muslim-majority region by the government at the behest of the RSS.”

The reactions came after Navin Kumar Choudhary, a senior IAS officer of J&K cadre from Bihar, became the first bureaucrat, among 25,000 “non-residents”, who were granted a domicile certificate on Friday.

To fast track the procedure of issuing domicile certificates, J&K government has set a timeline of 15 days for the issuance of the certificate in favour of the applicants and the Tehsildar who is competent to issue the certificate can be fined Rs 50,000 in case he/she fails to issue it on time.