Centre gives powers to district collectors to grant citizenship under CAA

New Delhi: The Central Government has given District Collectors the authority to receive, review, and ultimately decide on applications for registration or naturalisation under Section 6B of the Citizenship Act, 1955, marking a significant decentralisation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) process.

The change has been notified through the Citizenship (Third Amendment) Rules, 2026, published in the Gazette of India (Extraordinary) by the Ministry of Home Affairs on August 19, 2026. Until now, applications under the CAA route were routed through the district administration, but the final decision rested with Empowered Committees and Designated Officers, IANS reported.

The new rules transfer these powers exclusively to the District Collector (also known as District Magistrate or Deputy Commissioner) within their respective territorial jurisdictions. This makes the Collector the competent authority and decision-maker rather than a mere processing node, a move expected to reduce bureaucratic layers and potentially speed up the process.

The rules apply to applicants ordinarily residing in the States of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal, Assam (excluding tribal areas) and Tripura (excluding tribal areas), as well as the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

According to the operative clause in the notification, “The Collector, on being satisfied with the suitability of the applicant, that he is a fit and proper person to be registered or naturalised, as the case may be, shall grant him the citizenship of India.” All applications must now be submitted and processed electronically. The District Collector is required to verify the documents, conduct necessary enquiries into the suitability of the applicant, and administer the oath of allegiance as specified in the Second Schedule to the Citizenship Act. If an applicant fails to appear in person to subscribe to the application and take the oath despite being given reasonable opportunities, the Collector shall reject the application.

The notification also provides for the transfer of all pending matters previously handled by Empowered Committees and Designated Officers to the respective District Collectors.

The rules come into force from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

Officials familiar with the development view the amendment as a step towards greater administrative efficiency and state-level empowerment in implementing the CAA framework, while retaining the Central Government’s overall legislative authority under the Citizenship Act, 1955.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, amends the Citizenship Act, 1955, to provide a fast-track pathway to Indian citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who fled religious persecution from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

The law reduces the mandatory residence period for these communities from 11 years to 5 years and creates a special category of eligibility that does not extend to Muslims from the same countries.