Centre gets 6th extension to frame rules for Citizenship Act

NEW DELHI: Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has been granted extension for the sixth time from the Parliamentary Committees on Subordinate Legislation in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha to frame the rules for the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019.

The Parliamentary Committees gave their nod another time to extend rules for the CAA taking cognizance of a request made by the MHA earlier this month.

The Citizenship Amendment Act was passed by Parliament on December 11, 2019, and the Presidential approval came the next day. In January, 2020, the Ministry notified that the Act will come into force from January 10, 2020 but it later requested from the Parliamentary Committees in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha to give it some more time to implement rules as the country was going through its worst ever health crisis due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Earlier, the MHA had sought time from both the Parliamentary Committees for similar extensions five times. The latest six month extension sought by the MHA ended on Sunday.

The MHA had earlier sought time till July 9, 2021 to frame the CAA rules. Before that, there was an extension granted till April 9, 2021. The first extension was granted in June 2020 for notifying CAA rules, which are to be published in the Gazette of India.

On February 2 last year, the Ministry of Home Affairs had told the Lok Sabha that the rules for the controversial law were still being framed even as it had got an extension of time from Committees on Subordinate Legislation in both the Houses.