‘Panchayat paper can be used to claim citizenship’

Guwahati: The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside the order of the Gauhati high court and allowed the certificates issued by gram panchayat secretary or executive magistrate to be treated as valid identity proof for claiming citizenship. The apex court, however, clarified that these document should be issued after conducting proper enquiries.

The order of the apex court has come as relief to lakh of women who are said to have submitted certificate issued by the gram panchayat secretary to establish their linkage for inclusion of their names in the ongoing updating of National Register of Citizens.

The panchayat secretary’s certificate is used to validate residence of a person. It was also used to open bank accounts, apply for mobile numbers and so forth in the state.

Though, there were many petitioners challenging the order of the Gauhati high court, the lead petition was filed by Monowara Bewa (40), a resident of western Assam’s Dhubri district. She had been marked as a doubtful or “D-voter” by the local election authority. Her family claims that she had switched addresses and not de-registered from her prior constituency. A foreigner tribunal had said that most of her documents were unable to prove her citizenship.

The foreigner tribunal, and later the Guwahati high court, did not accept the panchayat certificate and referred to it as a “private document”.

The top court has now restored the applicability of the document in establishing linkage to other documents that prove citizenship.