MHA seeks 3 months time to frame citizenship act rules

New Delhi, Aug 03: The Ministry of Home Affairs has told a parliamentary standing committee that it would need three more months to frame the Citizenship Amendment Act rules.

The absence of the rules has held up the implementation of the act that confers citizenship to minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The rules once in place would offer citizenship to the persecuted minorities from these countries.

The act was passed by both Houses of Parliament on December 11 and a notification was issued stating that the rules would be fixed and the same would come into force from January 10, 2020, onwards.

The manual on parliamentary work says that the rules for legislation should be framed within six months of the date of the President's assent. Now with the three month extension being sought, the MHA has time until September 2020 to frame the rules.

The delay in framing the rules is owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and the MHA being busy with other matters. It may be recalled that this law had sparked protests and violence in different parts of the country. Delhi had even witnessed communal riots over the issue.