Kashmir Horizon Impact: Hours after report on denial of domicile certificate to S L Bhat went viral, Kashmir admin drops domicile certificate at his gate

Srinagar: Hours after the report about the overt and covert denial of domicile certificate to top retired bureaucrat and former Chairman J&K Public Service Commission S L Bhat, a Kashmiri origin non migrant state subject of Srinagar , the Kashmir divisional administration dropped the domicile certificate at the gate of the Indranagar residence of S L Bhat here in the summer capital. A top government official on conditions of anonymity told Kashmir Horizon “the authorities took a serious note of the grievances of S L Bhat as recorded in a front page story of Thursday edition of Kashmir Horizon and after proper scrutiny of all the relevant documents the domicile certificate was issued to S L Bhat by the prescribe competent authority”, adding that “ a top official of the office of Divisional Commissioner Kashmir was deputed to the Shivpora residence of S L Bhat to hand over his domicile certificate to him there onlu”. In it’s Thursday edition Kashmir Horizon had reported that a top retired bureaucrat S L Bhat, a non migrant Kashmiri Pandit has been surprisingly asked to produce migrant card for issuance of domicile certificate. Confirming that he has received the domicile certificate Bhat told Kashmir Horizon “ I hope that PRC (Permanent Resident Certificate) holders of Jammu and Kashmir would be exempted from domicile certificate which was always issued after property scrutiny of revenue and residential documents besides physical verification of the applicants”
Expressing his dismay over the process and procedure set for domicile certificate Bhat had told Kashmir Horizon ““unfortunately migrant and non migrant status has almost become a new point of identification for the people of Kashmir irrespective of caste, creede and colour. Simply the permanent residents of Jammu & Kashmir holding Permanent Resident Certificates (PRCs) under the erstwhile state subject law should be exempted from domicile certificates as the certificate have been issued after thorough scrutiny of the revenue records and electoral rolls besides physical verifications. To substantiate his claim of being a non migrant resident of Srinagar city, the former Public Service Commission Chairman had produced before the concerned authorities his own permanent residence certificate, latest election card, latest renewed driving license, aadhar card, a copy of the revenue extract and latest LIC policy, Presently residing in the Indra Nagar area of Srinagar city, the former Chairman J&K PSC S L Bhat has also seen the devastating floods of 2014 when he was holding the position of Chairman J&K Public Service Commission. He has never migrated to Jammu or any other part of the country even after 1989 armed uprising in Jammu & Kashmir. Bhat held the senior positions of Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Principal Secretary General Administration Department and Financial Commissioner Planning & Development before his appointment as Chairman J&K Public Service Commission.