The Jammu and Kashmir administration has announced that spouses of permanent residents of Jammu and those who are married outside the Union Territory will be issued domicile certificates, whereas previously, those who were married outside of Jammu and Kashmir were ineligible for a domicile certificate.
Issuing authorities were unable to grant domicile to the spouse of a permanent resident due to the lack of a specific clause, and had set a 15-year limit for obtaining the certificate.
The Jammu & Kashmir (Adaptation of State Laws) Second Order, 2020, issued under section 96 of the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, was approved by the Union cabinet in 2020.
Due to a new clause added to the J&K Grant of Domicile Certificate (Procedure) Rules, 2020, the spouse of a domicile certificate holder can now obtain the certificate upon submission of certain documents.
Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, Commissioner/Secretary to the Government, General Administration Department, Jammu and Kashmir, also confirmed to the Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that the new clause in the JK Domicile rule is for a spouse, not a gender, which means that if a male member of Jammu and Kashmir marries in Rajasthan or Gujarat, his wife will have the same rights as a girl from Jammu and Kashmir.
“Similarly, if a girl from Jammu and Kashmir marries a Maharashtrian, he will have full rights in Jammu and Kashmir.”
The tehsildar has been given the authority to grant the category of domicile to the spouse of the domicile.
The spouse can obtain a certificate by presenting his or her spouse’s domicile certificate and a valid marriage certificate.
Under the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Decentralisation and Recruitment) Act, the order modified the applicability of Domicile conditions to all levels of jobs in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to Article 309 of the Indian Constitution, read with section 15 of the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services Act 2010, the government hereby directs that after S.No/Clause 6, the following shall be added in sub-rule (1) of rule 5 of the Jammu and Kashmir Grant of Domicile Certificate Rules 220,” reads the order.
Meanwhile, the J&K unit of the Bhartiya Janta Party has applauded the UT government’s decision to issue a domicile certificate to the spouse/husband of a native woman who is a UT domicile holder.
J&K BJP President Ravinder Raina, speaking at a press conference in Jammu today, called it a historic decision that put an end to the injustices meted out to J&K girls who were married outside the state by previous governments.
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The Chenab Times News Desk
