Srinagar: After the abrogation of Article 370 granting special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019, and with the implementation of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the government took the initiative to give equal rights to every citizen living in the region, including dozens of families which did not have these rights as state residents before August 5, 2019.
West Pakistani refugees in Jammu and Kashmir, Valmikis, Gurkhas, persons displaced from Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Chhamb area between 1947, 1965 and 1971, safai karamcharis and children of women married outside Jammu and Kashmir now have the same civil rights under the state subject laws.
The UT administration says that the domicile certificate has made equality and justice possible for all. This has protected the jobs of the local youth and removed the sections that were discriminated against for decades.
Domicile certificate has been declared as the basic qualification for recruitment. All previous residents are automatically eligible for this. Apart from this, those who have resided in Jammu and Kashmir for 15 years or have been studying here for seven years and have passed the 10th to 12th class examination from any institution in Jammu and Kashmir have also been issued domicile certificates.
For this, the domicile rules were notified regularly, the process was simplified and accelerated by creating an online portal. Domicile certificate is being issued within 15 days in which there is an option of appeal to the competent authority while action is being taken against the officials causing delay.
According to the officials, domicile certificates have been issued to 61,47,482 citizens under the new domicile law in Jammu and Kashmir. The online system by the UT administration has stopped the practice of bribery, while the officials are also being held accountable to a great extent.
–IANS