HC directs Doon DM to process Tibetan woman’s citizenship application in 30 days

Dehradun: Uttarakhand high court has disposed of a petition filed by Tenzin Tsomo, who sought a time-bound direction to the Dehradun district magistrate to forward her citizenship-by-registration application to the competent authorities. She alleged an administrative delay in processing her application under section 5(1)(c) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, and cited the statutory requirement under the Citizenship Rules, 2009, for such applications to be transmitted within a prescribed timeframe.Justice Pankaj Purohit on Monday directed the district magistrate to forward the application to the state govt within 30 days from June 1, strictly in accordance with law, along with all necessary formalities and the requisite report.According to the petition, Tsomo, who was born to Tibetan refugee parents on Aug 5, 1990, at the Dekyiling Tibetan Colony in Dehradun. She completed her education in the city and married Tenzin Losel, an Indian citizen, in 2022.Counsel for the petitioner submitted that Tsomo had applied for citizenship by registration on Aug 3, 2025, before the district magistrate. Although the application was duly registered, it remained pending at the district level. The petitioner relied on rule 12 of the Citizenship Rules, 2009, which mandates that the collector forward the application, along with a report, to the state govt within 60 days of its receipt.Before the court, the petitioner made what the order described as an “innocuous prayer” seeking a direction to the district magistrate to forward the application within a stipulated period after completing the formalities required under rule 12. The order noted that the respondents did not oppose the request.