Home Ministry says there is no provision to maintain records of applications under CAA

Guwahati: Responding to a Right to Information (RTI) application, the Union Home Ministry has said that there is no provision under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 and its rules, notified on March 11, to maintain records of citizenship applications filed online under the law.

The RTI applications filed by Bangla Pokkho, an organisation that claims to work for the rights of Bengalis, sought information on the number of people who applied for citizenship through the website provided by the Home Ministry on March 12 and 13, the two days following the notification of the CAA rules.

The Union Home Ministry in a communication (F No 26027/94/2024-IC-I, dated April 15, 2024) stated, “… that the records are not being maintained as desired by you because the Citizenship Act, 1955 & Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 and the rules made thereunder does not have the provision to maintain the records of Citizenship application received.” "Further, as per the RTI Act, 2005, CPIO is not authorised to create information. Hence the information sought may be treated as NIL,” said the communication.

PTI possesses a copy of the communication disbursed by the Foreigners Division (Citizenship Wing) of the Home Ministry.

The contentious CAA — which offers citizenship to non-Muslim minority immigrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, to escape religious persecution — is among the major poll issues in parts of West Bengal and in Assam and several other northeastern states.