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Indian Citizenship pre-requisite for issuance of Bonafide Resident Certificate- The High Court of Himachal Pradesh.
In a civil writ petition filed by Beena Kumari challenging the order passed by the Deputy Commissioner where the request for issuance of Bonafide certificate in her favour stands rejected.
The petitioner contended that since 1997 she has been residing in Shimla and according to the provisions of Hand Book on Personnel Matters (Vol-I), issued by the Personnel Department of the Government of Himachal Pradesh, she is entitled to Bonafide Himachali certificate. The Deputy Commissioner rejected the claim of the petitioner on the ground that the Bonafide Himachali Certificate can be issued to a person, who happens to be a citizen of India and as the petitioner is not a citizen of India, therefore, she is not entitled to the issuance of Bonafide Himachali certificate. To which, Mr. A.K. Gupta, learned Counsel for the petitioner argued that citizenship is not a condition precedent for issuance of Bonafide Himachali certificate.
The court while rejecting the contention of the petitioner, held that issuance of the Bonafide certificate requires a person to be the citizen of India and that more often than not it is a condition precedent to possess a Bonafide Himachali certificate to be eligible to apply for a job in a Government Department of the State of Himachal Pradesh. The Deputy Commissioner while rejecting the petitioner application relied on Section 3 of the Citizenship Act of India, 1955, wherein Section 3(1)(b) of the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955 applies to the applicant which provides that “except as provided in sub-section(2), every person born in India, on or after the 1st day of July 1987, but before the commencement of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003 (6 of 2004) and either of whose parents is a citizen of India at the time of his birth; shall be considered as an Indian, but she failed to produce any authentic document which could prove that one of her parents was a citizen of India at the time of her birth and thus her claim for the issuance of the certificate fails on this ground.
Justice Ajay Mohan Goel, dismissed the writ petition, holding the findings of the Deputy Commissioner to be correct as the petitioner does not happen to be a citizen of India, refusal of Bonafide Himachali Certificate to her by the Deputy Commissioner, cannot be faulted with.
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