The controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) seems to have been implemented by the Centre way before it was being passed in the parliament.
In December 2016, the Centre had delegated power to grant citizenship by registration to the Collectors of 16 districts in seven States and Home Secretaries of the same States where most of these migrants are residing.
This was informed by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, to the Lok Sabha while responding to an unstarred question.
The Central government, in December, 2016, “delegated power to grant citizenship by registration under Section 5 and by naturalisation under Section 6 of The Citizenship Act, 1955 to the Collectors of 16 districts in seven States and Home Secretaries of these States where most of these migrants are residing. Vide notification dated October 23, 2018 this delegation of power has been extended till further orders”.
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The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday has informed that in December 2016, the Central Government in order to speedily dispose citizenship applications of migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities had “delegated power to grant citizenship by registration” to the Collectors of 16 districts in seven States and Home Secretaries of these States.
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