Srinagar | WTNS | June 26:As many as 25,000 people including a senior IAS officer have been granted domicile certificates in Jammu and Kashmir, reports said on Friday.

The certificate allows non-locals to buy land, get education and jobs in Jammu and Kashmir which prior to this were reserved only for the permanent residents of the erstwhile state.

Navin Kumar Choudhary, a senior J&K cadre IAS officer from Bihar is among those who have been given the certificate.

“This is to certify that Shri Navin K. Choudhary son of Shri Deokant Choudhary resident of at present Gandhi Nagar Jammu is a domicile of UT of J&K,” reads the certificate issued by Tehsildar Bahu Rohit Sharma.

A picture of the certificate went viral on social media on Friday.

J&K government has received 33,157 applications for domicile certificates in J&K of which over 25,000 people have been granted the citizenship certificate, reported The Tribune.

It added that Srinagar was the only district which has received 65 application for domicile certificates but not a single one has been issued so far.

Similarly, in Kashmir, it added, the highest number of domicile certificates have been issued in Pulwama (153), followed by Anantnag (106), Kulgam (90), baramulla (39), Shopian (20), Bandipora (10), Kupwara (10), Budgam (09, and Ganderbal (01).

Interestingly, nearly 32000 applications have been received in 10 districts of Jammu alone, while as Kashmir has received 720 applications, the report added.

“In Jammu, the highest number of domicile certificates–8500–have been issued in Doda, followed by Rajouri 6214, Poonch 6123, and Jammu district 2820,” the report said.

Similarly, in Kashmir, it added, the highest number of domicile certificates have been issued in Pulwama (153), followed by Anantnag (106), Kulgam (90), baramulla (39), Shopian (20), Bandipora (10), Kupwara (10), Budgam (09, and Ganderbal (01).

As per The Tribune report, hundreds of West Pakistan Refugees and Valmiki Samaj members, who were invited to Jammu in 1957 when local sanitation workers went on strike, have been granted certificates.