Jammu and Kashmir to amend rules for issuing domicile certificates

Jammu: – The Indian government took a historic decision to abrogate article 370, awarding special status to Jammu-Kashmir. After that, the path got cleared for the people, living for more than 15 years in the state, to obtain domicile certificates. Now a decision for further amendments, to these domicile rules, has been taken. The children of the women who marry outside Jammu-Kashmir will also be eligible for the domicile certificate. The women coming into Jammu-Kashmir after marriage also will get this benefit.

As per the article 370, women who married outside the state did not have any right in their ancestral properties in Jammu-Kashmir. They were also not considered a resident of Jammu-Kashmir. Therefore, they did not have a right to purchase property, in Jammu-Kashmir and did not have any job opportunities. Same was the situation of the women coming into Jammu-Kashmir from other states after marriage.

In March, the Domicile rules were amended and a provision was made to issue domicile certificate to every person with a stay of more than 15 years in Jammu-Kashmir. Provision was also made to issue domicile certificates to the students spending more than seven years in the schools in Jammu-Kashmir. But the act still did not have any provisions for women, coming in or going out of Jammu-Kashmir, due to marriages.

The decision to amend the domicile rules was taken after due discussions with Manoj Sinha, Lieutenant Governor of Jammu-Kashmir and Chief Secretary Subramaniam. An official informed that these amendments would be made in the next month. Due to these amendments to the Domicile rules, children of the Kashmiri women settled outside Jammu-Kashmir will have a right over the ancestral property in Jammu-Kashmir and they also become eligible for government employment. First time since independence, the children of Kashmiri women marrying outside the state will be getting these rights.

Meanwhile, 1.852 million people have been issued domicile certificates, since the new law was implemented in June. As per received information, 2.199 million applications have been received so far. There are 19,571 Pakistani refugees among the people who were issued domicile certificates. Along with these, people from the Valmiki and Gorkha communities also have been issued domicile certificates.