Hyderabad: The Congress govt is likely to constitute a cabinet sub-committee to examine the feasibility of introducing a Permanent Residence Certificate (PRC) system on the lines of Karnataka state.Govt adviser Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Monday said the proposal was under active consideration following a representation submitted by him to chief minister A Revanth Reddy, seeking a standardised govt document that could help long-term residents establish their permanent residence, particularly during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.The proposed certificate could provide an additional govt-recognised document to residents who were unable to trace their own names or those of their family members in the 2002 electoral rolls being used as a reference during the SIR exercise.The Election Commission’s indicative list of documents that may be considered during verification includes a PRC issued by a competent state authority. Therefore, a PRC issued after verification by the Telangana govt could be produced as supporting evidence if an elector is subsequently asked to establish eligibility, he said.Shabbir Ali clarified that documents were not being sought from voters while submitting the enumeration forms during the initial house-to-house exercise. However, electors whose names could not be linked to the 2002 rolls might later be issued notices and asked to submit supporting documents before the electoral authorities.He said the PRC could be particularly useful for people who were too young to be registered as voters in 2002, women whose names and addresses changed after marriage, families that shifted between constituencies or districts, and residents whose names could not be traced because of spelling or transliteration differences in old records.It could also assist poor and elderly residents who did not possess birth, school, property or employment records, as well as long-term residents whose documents were spread across different govt departments.Explaining the Karnataka model, Shabbir Ali said the certificate was issued after an enquiry and verification of the applicant’s permanent residence. Revenue officials could consider the totality of the available evidence instead of rejecting an application merely because a particular document was unavailable.Birth in the state, long-term residence, educational records, the residence status of parents or a spouse, property records, electoral entries, Aadhaar, ration cards, govt service records and other reliable evidence could be considered. Local enquiries could also be conducted where documentary evidence was insufficient.He said a similar flexible and transparent system in Telangana could reduce the hardship faced by genuine residents who lacked one specific document but possessed several records establishing their long association with the state.The objective of the representation was to ensure that genuine residents were not placed at a disadvantage merely because their names or those of their family members could not be located in electoral records prepared nearly 25 years ago, Shabbir Ali said.“A properly designed PRC system could provide people with a current, govt-verified residence document while allowing the authorities to conduct all necessary checks. It could reduce the documentation burden without diluting the verification process,” Shabbir Ali added.He expressed confidence that the proposed cabinet sub-committee would examine the Karnataka model and recommend an appropriate framework suited to Telangana’s administrative and legal requirements.
