Centre does not maintain records of applications received under CAA, says home ministry
Home minister Amit Shah had said in December 2019 had said that “lakhs and crores” of people would benefit from the Citizenship Amendment Act.
The Centre does not maintain records of applications received under the Citizenship Amendment Act, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has said in response to a Right to Information application, reported The Hindu on Tuesday.
The Citizenship Amendment Act provides a fast-track to Indian citizenship for refugees from six minority religious communities, except Muslims, from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the condition that they have lived in India for six years and have entered the country by December 31, 2014.
The Act was passed by Parliament in December 2019. Union Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah had said then that “lakhs and crores” of people would benefit from the provision, according to The Hindu. Shah, however, did not explained how he had arrived at the numbers.
Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien at the time had cited an Intelligence Bureau report stating that nearly 31,000 people would be the immediate beneficiaries of the Act.
Ajay Bose, a resident of Maharashtra’s Amravati, recently filed a Right to Information application seeking information about the total number of persons who have applied for citizenship under the Act after its rules were notified in March.
Responding to the query, the Ministry of Home Affairs said on April 15: “The records are not being maintained as desired by you because the Citizenship Act, 1955 and...
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