Supreme Court calls for fresh Nadra report on overseas ID card

The Supreme Court today (Wednesday) asked the chairman of Nadra to submit a report pertaining to the mechanism for determining the rates of payment for issuance and cancellation of Pakistan Origin Cards for overseas Pakistanis. On February 11, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar had sought a report from the chairman of the National Database and Registration Authority, in response to the application of an overseas Pakistani who alleged that NADRA was charging exorbitant fees for issuance and cancellation of identity cards for overseas Pakistanis.
He had said in his letter that overseas Pakistanis were having to pay $100 to NADRA for preparation of a Pakistan Origin Card. The fee was increased to $150, and then the charges went still higher. The applicant said that the fee increases discouraged the overseas Pakistanis to get the card. Resuming the hearing on the matter on Wednesday, a three-member bench headed by the chief justice that decided that there must be working paper about determination of the fees for the card's issuance and cancellation.
Earlier, in pursuance of the court's directives, NADRA made the explanation that the fee of the new chip-based national identity card has been raised gradually over 16 years, and in accordance with the government's visa policy. The report showed that issuance of identity cards, both local and overseas, was cheaper than a Pakistani's obtaining a visa for overseas Pakistanis who had surrendered their nationality or had dual nationality. It explained that a chip-based CNIC was equipped with 36 security features, both overt and covert, for more efficient preservation of a citizen's identity and prevention of all types of forgery.
After examining the report, the chief justice said that discrimination did exist, prima facie, since NADRA charges only $16 from a local Pakistani for issuance of an executive CNIC, whereas an overseas Pakistani in Europe is charged $100 for the same card. Later, seeking a report from the chairman of NADRA, the court adjourned the hearing for indefinite period. After the hearing, an applicant from Multan told Business Recorder that he contacted the spokesperson at the NADRA headquarter for obtaining for his daughter last June, but was told that NADRA was not processing Pakistan Origin Cards.