Panaji, May 2 (TOI): Five months after the ministry of home affairs empowered district collectors to inquire into the issue of dual citizenship and make recommendations to the central government, the state government has published the Union home ministry order order in its official gazette.

The order will be in force for a period of two years from the date of publication in the official gazette.

Dated November 22, 2016, the order empowers district collectors of North and South Goa to invite applications and objections after due publicity. It states that "inquiry shall be conducted in fair and transparent manner, keeping in mind the provisions contained in the Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship Rules, 2009. After inquiry the district collector shall make recommendations to the central government giving details of each case." The collectors had requested the home ministry to publish the order in the state's official gazette to make it applicable to Goa.

But, what is unclear is what 'inquiries' the collectors will conduct.

"There is no way the collectors can gather information about whether someone has acquired citizenship of another country. Perhaps the Central government will source information from Indian embassies," a senior government official said.

Former BJP vice president and former commissioner NRI affairs Wilfred Mesquita called the MHA order a "cruel joke played by Manohar Parrikar and the government of India on Goans to take them for a ride".

He objected to the 'inquiry' that is expected to be conducted by the collectors saying all that is needed for the issue to be sorted out is for them to be given powers to decide cases based on affidavits sworn with a penalty for those who swear false affidavits, where people can swear they are Indian citizens and state that they registered their births in Portugal without proper knowledge of facts, provided they have only registered their births in Portugal and have not gone beyond this process.

He also objected to the inviting of objections saying this would lead to more litigation.

"The entire process carried out by the government under the leadership of Parrikar has been an exercise in futility. Our recommendations haven't been considered and all meetings between Centre and state it seems were a big waste of time," Mesquita said. MHA officials had visited Goa last year and held talks with the NRI commission and other local authorities over the issue.