Amid SIR exercise, Home Ministry notifies another panel to clear pending CAA applications in West Bengal, primarily by Matuas

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday, February 21, 2026, informed another empowered committee comprising Census, postal and Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials in West Bengal to fast-track hundreds of citizenship applications pending under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) amid the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal.

A large number of people belonging to the Matua community of Hindu Namasudras, whose origins are in Bangladesh, applied for citizenship under the CAA as their names were not included in the 2002 electoral list, which is the threshold for the ongoing SIR application.

A government source said that although an Empowered Committee, headed by the Director of Census Operations, exists in all states to process CAA applications, another such committee, headed by the Deputy Registrar General, Directorate of Census Operations, West Bengal, has been notified only for Bengal following a surge in citizenship demands.

“This is an additional committee that will process and expedite CAA applications in West Bengal,” the source said.

The committee will consist of one officer not below the rank of Deputy Secretary in the Deputy Intelligence Bureau, two officers of the rank of Under Secretary and the State Director General to be nominated by the Regional Registrar of Foreigners (FRRO) and the National Informatics Center of West Bengal respectively.

A representative from the office of the Principal Secretary (Home) or Additional Chief Secretary (Home) of the State government of West Bengal and a representative of the Divisional Railway Manager of the Railways of the jurisdiction will be the special invitees, the notification said.

On 11 March 2024 days before the general elections were announced, the MHA notified the Citizenship Amendment Rules 2024, which would allow for the implementation of the CAA four years after the legislation was passed in 2019.

The law grants citizenship to undocumented persons belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi, Christian and Jain community who entered India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014, and speeds up the process by reducing eligibility to five years instead of 12 years.

Although the law was introduced for undocumented immigrants, the Rules mentioned various documents that had to be provided by applicants, including a document issued by a government official in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

Although earlier some members of the Matua community were hesitant to apply under the CAA as they came from Bangladesh without any documents, there was a significant increase in such requests after the SIR was announced in West Bengal.

important asset

The Matuas began migrating from Bangladesh in 1947 and continued to come to India before and after the war in 1971 that liberated what was then East Pakistan from West Pakistan. In West Bengal, the community has a significant presence in border districts such as North 24 Parganas, Nadia, Howrah, Cooch Behar and Malda and is the second largest Scheduled Caste community in the state.

Since the CAA was opposed by many States, including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, with the aim of bypassing the role of the State government in implementing the law, the MHA notified committees headed by Census and postal department officials, who are Central government officials, leaving no scope for participation by State government officials.

Citizenship is a subject in the Union Constitutional List and the State’s role in providing logistical services such as office space and police verification of applicants may play a role.