Officials summoned to suggest easier ways of obtaining domiciles

Petitioner tells PHC obtaining the certificate is a tedious task under the current policy.

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday summoned the provincial home secretary and advocate general (AG) to explain the procedure of obtaining a domicile and suggest ways to make it easier.

A two-member bench comprising PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Malik Manzoor Hussain summoned the officials after Advocate Muhammad Isa Khan informed the court obtaining a domicile under the current circumstances was a tedious task. Khan had earlier filed a petition challenging the current policy for obtaining a domicile certificate.

Advocate Khan said the procedure to acquire the document forced students to stand in long queues outside the deputy commissioner’s office to first obtain the form, after which they had to get it signed by high-ranking government officers, followed by signatures from the tehsildar, patwari and other officers.

The counsel for the state informed the bench there was a need to create awareness among the people so that they could get domiciles made at an earlier age instead of waiting to get it made at the time of college admissions.

In response, the bench questioned what methods could be adopted to create awareness, but the counsel could not come up with an apt reply. Following this, the bench ordered the provincial home secretary and advocate general to appear in court at the next hearing in order to explain the procedure of obtaining a domicile and suggest ways to make the procedure less complicated.

On July 4, a two-member bench comprising Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Nisar Hussain Khan waived the stipulation of submitting domicile certificates with admission forms for enrolment in colleges, stating birth certificates would suffice.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2013.