MHA seeks six more months for CAA rules

NEW DELHI: The ministry of home affairs (MHA) informed Parliament on Tuesday it has sought six more months to frame rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA, a law which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

This is the fifth extension sought by the government for framing rules for a controversial law that resulted in widespread protests after it was passed in December 2019. It came into effect from January 2020.

In response to a question from Congress member of Parliament Gaurav Gogoi, Union minister of state (home affairs) Nityanand Rai said in Lok Sabha: “The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) has been notified on December 12, 2019 and has come into force w.e.f. January 10, 2020,” the minister said.

“The Committees on Subordinate Legislation, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have been requested to grant further extension of time up to January 9, 2022 to frame the rules under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019,” Rai said.

The manual on Parliamentary Work states that in case ministries or departments are not able to frame the rules within the prescribed period of six months after the President signs off on a law, “they should seek extension of time from the Committee on Subordinate Legislation stating reasons for such extension” which cannot be more than for a period of three months at a time.

Human rights activist, Harsh Mander said, “It’s quite apparent that BJP passed this law in such a hurry without knowing how to implement it. They know they will be angering large number of people in the north east if they implement it, and if they don’t, they will lose the vote-bank of Bengali Hindus.”