J&K notifies rules for issuance of Domicile Certificate for spouses of domiciles

The Jammu & Kashmir administration on Tuesday issued a notification for granting a domicile certificate to the spouse of a domicile holder in the UT. A new clause has been added under the J&K Grant of Domicile Certificate (Procedure) Rules, 2020, and allows the spouse of a domicile certificate holder to get the certificate upon submission of certain documents. The power to grant the category of domicile to the spouse of a domicile has been conferred with the tehsildar. The spouse is eligible to get a certificate upon showing -- 1) Domicile certificate of his/her spouse and 2) valid marriage proof. 

New J&K Domicile clause

"In exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to article 309 of the Consitution of India, read with section 15 of the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services Act 2010, the government hereby directs in sub-rule (1) of rule 5 of the Jammu and Kashmir Grant of Domicile Certificate Rules 220, after S.No/Clause 6, the following shall be added," the notice reads, attaching the revised clause in the table mentioned below.

Earlier, if a woman from J&K married a man outside the state, the spouse was not given the domicile of the state. With the abrogation of article 370 and today's order, the husband of a woman from J&K is eligible to apply for a domicile certificate

Centre issues new domicile law for J&K

On April 4, the Centre issued a gazette notification defining the domicile of the newly bifurcated Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir. It states that a domicile of J&K is one 'who has resided for 15 years in J&K, or has studied for 7 years and appeared in Class 10/12 exam in J&K, or is registered as migrant by the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner.' The order also includes 'children of government employees who have served in Jammu and Kashmir for a total period of ten years or children of parents who fulfil any of the conditions in sections'. The revised notification came after the Centre abrogated Article 370 & Article 35 A and defined the permanent residents of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

In May 2020, the Jammu and Kashmir administration began issuing domicile certificates to residents. The new amendments allowed any person fulfilling the criteria to apply for the domicile certificate online or in person, with appropriate documents. Moreover, it also directed that an applicant's domicile application be approved or rejected with 15 days.