Senior IAS officer from Bihar gets domicile as Jammu resident

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir administration has begun to issue domiciles certificates under the new definition of domicile announced after abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A, which gave rights of owning land and immovable property to only permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir.
As of now, about 25,000 people have been granted domicile certificate, including a senior IAS officer from Bihar, Navin Kumar Choudhary.
In the past two months, the JK administration received about 33,157 applications for domicile certificates of which some 32,000 applications came from 10 districts of Jammu division while 720 applications came from Kashmir division.
Kumar is currently serving as Principal Secretary Agriculture. Earlier he had served in IT, Finance, Industries and Tourism departments in Jammu and Kashmir in his long career.
“This is to certify, Shri Navin K Choudhary son of Shri Deokant Choudhary resident of at present Gandhi Nagar Jammu is a domicile of UT of J&K,” reads the domicile certificate issued in his name.
“That the applicant is eligible in terms of the following clause of Rule 5 of the Jammu and Kashmir Grant Domicile Certificate (Production) Rules, 2020,” reads the certificate undersigned by Tehsildar Bahu in Jammu.
The granting of domicile certificates comes at a time when the erstwhile state has been downgraded to a union territory, ruled directly by the BJP-led government in New Delhi, and pleas challenging the abrogation of Article 370 are being heard in the Supreme Court.
The new domicile rules allow issuing certificates within 15 days and to prevent any resistance from the competent authority, a junior revenue officer for this purpose, the government has introduced an unprecedented penalty clause – a fine of Rs 50 thousand to be deducted from the salary of the official– if the official fails to issue the certificate within seven days after an applicant successfully appeals to the higher authority.

Junaid Nabi Bazaz