CURRENT AFFAIRS | MAY 19, 2026
The Ministry of Home Affairs on 18 May 2026 notified the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2026 through an Extraordinary Gazette. The amendment inserts a new paragraph in Schedule IC of the Citizenship Rules, framed under Section 18 of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
Under the new rule, applicants for Indian citizenship who hold or have held any valid or expired passport of Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan must furnish full passport details — number, date of issue, place of issue and date of expiry — and give a written undertaking to surrender those passports to the Senior Superintendent or Superintendent of Post of the concerned area within 15 days of the citizenship application being approved.
The amendment runs parallel to the MHA’s broader push to digitise the OCI registration framework and to prevent minors from simultaneously holding dual passports.
Constitutional & Statutory Framework
- Article 11: Empowers Parliament to regulate citizenship by law, overriding static Articles 5-10.
- Citizenship Act 1955, Section 18: Rule-making power exercised to notify the 2026 Rules.
- Section 9, Citizenship Act: Voluntary acquisition of foreign citizenship = automatic termination of Indian citizenship.
- Section 6A: Assam Accord cut-off (25 March 1971) — upheld by a 5-judge Constitution Bench in October 2024.
- CAA 2019: Inserts proviso to Sec 2(1)(b) for non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan/Bangladesh/Afghanistan who entered before 31 Dec 2014.
- Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2005: Introduced OCI (Sections 7A-D).
Why This Matters For CLAT 2027
Citizenship is a perennial Polity + Legal Reasoning topic — combining static provisions (Articles 5-11) with rapidly evolving statutory rules (CAA 2019, Section 6A litigation, OCI digitisation, and now the 2026 passport-surrender rule). Expect CLAT to test the 15-day surrender window, the distinction between Article 11 and Articles 5-10, and the single citizenship principle. Legal Reasoning passages on dual nationality and OCI rights are also high-probability.
Key Facts
| Date Notified | 18 May 2026 (gazette) |
| Parent Act | Citizenship Act 1955, Sec 18 |
| Schedule Amended | Schedule IC, Citizenship Rules |
| Countries Targeted | Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan |
| Surrender Window | 15 days from citizenship grant |
| Receiving Officer | Sr. Supdt./Supdt. of Post |
Mnemonic
“PBA-15 in IC” — Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan passports must be surrendered in 15 days, under Schedule IC.
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