West Bengal has deployed 12 IAS probationers to North 24 Parganas and Nadia to speed up citizenship processing under the Citizenship Amendment Act for Matua and refugee applicants, following a December 31 deadline announced for completing hearings and granting citizenship to 2.5 lakh people.
The personnel and administrative reforms department issued an order assigning the probationers to the two districts for two months. Their responsibilities include coordinating with district administrations, supporting document verification and assisting with hearings linked to CAA applications.
Six officers have been assigned to North 24 Parganas: Romil Dwivedi, Mudita Bansal, Ravula Jayasimha Reddy, Tejaswa, Swami Sunil Ramling and Rajat Yadav. Ritika Rath, Chougule Aditi Sanjay, Abhishek Chowdhury, Meghna Chakraborty, Saksham Bhatia and Himanshu Bhaskar have been assigned to Nadia.
The deployment came a day after Suvendu Adhikari announced the deadline at an event in Thakurnagar. According to the report, he said around 25,000 applicants in Bengal had so far received citizenship under the CAA, leaving the administration with a substantially larger number of applications to process before the year-end target.
The two districts are central to the administrative exercise outlined in the order because the newly assigned officers will work directly with their district administrations. Their two-month assignment is intended to add administrative capacity to the existing process rather than create a separate application system.
The reported responsibilities cover two key stages of processing: checking applicants’ documents and conducting hearings. The order also requires the probationers to coordinate with local administrative officials, indicating that the exercise will depend on district-level verification and case management.
Adhikari also announced that eligible Scheduled Caste applicants would be provided Scheduled Caste certificates after receiving citizenship under the CAA. The announcement links citizenship processing with the subsequent delivery of another official document for applicants who meet the eligibility requirements.
The reported figures underline the scale of the administrative task. While around 25,000 applicants had received citizenship in Bengal, the stated target is to complete hearings and grant citizenship to 2.5 lakh Matua and refugee applicants by December 31. The difference between the reported completed cases and the announced target forms the basis for the accelerated deployment.
The probationers’ assignment is for two months, while the announced deadline falls on December 31. The immediate administrative milestones will therefore be the completion of document verification, the scheduling and conduct of hearings, and the processing of eligible applicants’ citizenship claims within that period. The department’s order and the district-level coordination process will determine how the target is implemented.
