District collectors in eight States, UTs empowered to grant citizenship under CAA; central panels phased out
The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs has shifted the processing of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) applications from central committees to district collectors in eight states and union territories. This change effectively bypasses previous multi-agency oversight structures.
Why it matters
The decentralization of citizenship processing significantly alters the administrative implementation of a controversial national law.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has transferred the processing of pending citizenship applications under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, from Empowered Committees —comprising Central government officials, including those from the Census, Intelligence Bureau (IB) and postal departments— to district Collectors in eight States and Union Territories (UTs).
District Collectors in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal, Assam (except tribal areas), Tripura (except tribal areas), Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh have been authorised to process CAA applications, as per the August 19 order, making the earlier arrangement of multi-agency committee redundant.
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