District collectors in six border states, J-K and Ladakh empowered to grant citizenship
The Union Home Ministry notified the Citizenship (Third Amendment) Rules, 2026, inserting a new sub-rule (6) into Rule 11A of the Citizenship Rules, 2009
District Collectors in six border states — Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal, Assam and Tripura (tribal areas excluded) — and the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh have been designated the "competent authority" to receive, scrutinise and dispose of applications for registration or naturalisation
Collectors can verify documents, conduct inquiries, administer the Oath of Allegiance, and grant citizenship to applicants found "fit and proper," ordinarily resident in these regions
Applicants who fail to appear in person to take the oath despite reasonable opportunity will have their applications rejected
All pending applications earlier before Empowered Committees and District Level Committees stand transferred to the respective Collectors
Constitutional and Statutory Basis of Indian Citizenship
Citizenship is dealt with in Part II (Articles 5–11) of the Constitution, which lays down who was a citizen at the commencement of the Constitution (1950) but, under Article 11, leaves Parliament free to make any law regulating citizenship thereafter. Parliament exercised this power through the Citizenship Act, 1955, which lays down five ways of acquiring Indian citizenship: birth, descent, registration, naturalisation, and incorporation of territory.
Key Details
- Article 5 conferred citizenship on persons domiciled in India at commencement; Articles 6–8 dealt with migrants from Pakistan and persons of Indian origin abroad
- Article 11 gives Parliament plenary power to make "any provision" on acquisition and termination of citizenship, overriding the specific Articles 5–10
- Section 5 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 provides for citizenship by registration; Section 6 provides for citizenship by naturalisation (for those not otherwise eligible, generally requiring longer residence and government satisfaction of qualifications under the Third Schedule)
- Naturalisation certificates were traditionally granted by the Central Government, with powers routinely delegated downward by rules
The August 2026 notification is a delegation-of-power exercise under the Citizenship Rules, 2009 (framed under the 1955 Act) — moving the "competent authority" for registration/naturalisation decisions in these regions from central-level Empowered Committees to District Collectors.
Section 6B — Fast-Track Naturalisation under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 inserted Section 6B into the Citizenship Act, 1955, creating an expedited citizenship route for six specified minority communities — Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian — who migrated from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh on or before 31 December 2014, citing religious persecution. Section 6B deems such persons not to be "illegal migrants" for the purpose of applying for citizenship and reduces the required period of residence in India for naturalisation from 11 years to 5 years.
Key Details
- Section 6B(4) expressly excludes application in "the tribal area of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura" under the Sixth Schedule and any area covered by the "Inner Line" under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873
- This explains why tribal areas of Assam and Tripura are carved out of the new District Collector notification, while the rest of these two states (outside Sixth Schedule autonomous council areas) are covered
- Sixth Schedule areas (Articles 244(2) and 275(1)) — e.g., Karbi Anglong, Dima Hasao, Bodoland Territorial Council in Assam — are governed by Autonomous District Councils with special protections
- Inner Line Permit states (Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur) remain outside the ambit of both CAA fast-track naturalisation and this Collector-level delegation
The eight regions named in the 2026 notification are precisely the areas where Section 6B-linked citizenship processing was earlier routed through Empowered Committees; the amendment decentralises the decision-making to the district level within the same legally exempted geography.
Decentralisation of Citizenship Processing — From Empowered Committees to Collectors
Since 2021, citizenship-processing powers under Sections 5 and 6 of the 1955 Act (and later Section 6B) had already been delegated in phases to Collectors of specified districts and Home Secretaries of some states for minority applicants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The 2026 amendment generalises and consolidates this delegation across entire border states and the two Union Territories, replacing the earlier committee-based mechanism.
Key Details
- Earlier system: applications were processed by "Empowered Committees" (state-level, often chaired by the Director, Census Operations) and "District Level Committees," with final certificates issued centrally
- New system: the District Collector is now the single-window competent authority for scrutiny, verification, oath administration, and grant of citizenship in the notified regions
- The Ministry of Home Affairs is the nodal ministry administering the Citizenship Act, 1955 and its Rules
This is an administrative decentralisation reform — it does not change eligibility criteria under the Citizenship Act but shifts decision-making authority closer to the applicant, intended to reduce processing time for citizenship applications in border regions.
- Notification: Citizenship (Third Amendment) Rules, 2026 — inserts sub-rule (6) into Rule 11A of the Citizenship Rules, 2009
- Regions covered: 6 states (Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal, Assam, Tripura — tribal areas excluded in the latter two) + 2 UTs (Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh)
- Legal basis for expedited naturalisation of minorities: Section 6B, Citizenship Act, 1955 (inserted by CAA, 2019)
- CAA 2019 covers 6 communities — Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, Christian — from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh
- CAA cutoff date for entry into India: on or before 31 December 2014
- Residence requirement for naturalisation reduced by CAA: from 11 years to 5 years (for eligible communities)
- Constitutional basis: Articles 5–11 (Part II) of the Constitution; Parliament's law-making power under Article 11