3 min readNew DelhiFeb 21, 2026 03:37 AM IST
Ahead of Assembly polls in West Bengal, the Centre on Friday operationalised the process of granting citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act through a gazetted notification, notifying the constitution of an Empowered Committee in the state to process applications under the Act.
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The development comes amid the ongoing political friction in West Bengal, where the Trinamool Congress government is at odds with the Centre over a number of issues and has been opposing the CAA, calling it discriminatory.
An order issued by Additional Secretary Nitesh Kumar Vyas said: “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 6B of the Citizenship Act, 1955 (57 of 1955) read with sub-rules (1) and (3) of rule 11A of the Citizenship Rules, 2009, the Centre appoints the Deputy Registrar General of the Directorate of Census Operations, West Bengal, as the head of the committee.”
According to the order, members will be a Deputy Secretary-rank officer from the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau, nominees from the jurisdictional Foreigners Regional Registration Officer and the State Informatics Officer of the National Informatics Centre of the State of West Bengal (both not below Under Secretary rank), and the Postmaster General or a nominated Deputy Secretary-rank postal officer.
The Home Ministry order operationalises the Citizenship (Amendment) framework in West Bengal by formally constituting the state’s ‘Empowered Committee’ under Section 6B of the Citizenship Act and Rules 11A/13A of the Citizenship Rules — building on the all-India framework created by an MHA notification of March 11, 2024 — which set up the mechanism for processing citizenship applications under the CAA but still required state-specific constitution to function in practice. The committee’s job is to scrutinise applications from eligible persecuted minorities (as defined by the CAA), coordinate with district verification bodies, and approve or reject citizenship grants.
“Two invitees will join meetings: A representative from the Principal Secretary (Home) or Additional Chief Secretary (Home) of the West Bengal government, and a nominee from the jurisdictional Divisional Railway Manager,” it added.
According to the MHA, the notification aligns the committee’s terms with its March 11, 2024 order that established similar bodies in other states to verify and grant citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who entered India before December 31, 2014.
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The government in 2024 had implemented the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, notifying the rules to fast-track citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.
Now, Indian nationality will be given under the CAA to the persecuted non-Muslim migrants – Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians – from the three countries.