India / Rules of CAA are being prepared, deadlines extended: Centre tells LS

NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday informed that the rules under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), passed in the winter session of Parliament in 2019, are being prepared and are expected to be framed by July this year.

Union minister of state for home Nityanand Rai informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply that the rules under CAA are under preparation. The committees on subordinate legislation, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have been granted an extension of time up to April 9 and July 9 respectively to frame these rules under the CAA.

Rai said CAA was notified on December 12, 2019, and it came into force with effect from January 10, 2020. The Act facilitates granting of Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim minorities - Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian - of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The President gave his assent to the legislation on December 12, 2019.

Under the Act, people from these communities who had come to India till December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution in the three countries will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.

After the CAA was passed by Parliament, widespread protests were witnessed in the country, including the national capital. Those opposing the CAA complain that it discriminates on the basis of religion and violates the Constitution. They also allege that the CAA along with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is intended to target the Muslim community in India.

However, home minister Amit Shah had dismissed the allegations and described the protests against the CAA as "mostly political". He had asserted that no Indian would lose citizenship due to the Act.

Clashes between pro and anti-CAA groups had spiralled into communal riots in Northeast Delhi last year which had left at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.

Protestors sat on a dharna in the Okhla area of Delhi for several months from December 2019 to March last year. The Shaheen Bagh protests became the epicentre of anti-CAA agitation in the country.

The Manual on Parliamentary Work states that "statutory rules, regulations, and bye-laws will be framed within a period of six months from the date on which the relevant statute came into force".

It also states that in case the ministries and departments are not able to frame the rules within the prescribed period of six months, "they should seek an 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.