Raise in fees for CNIC: PHC puts Nadra on notice

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday put on notice the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) in a writ petition challenging notification of the federal government about over 100 percent increase in fees for the Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) in all categories.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Muhammad Ayub Khan issued notice to Nadra director general to submit reply in the petition. The petition was moved by Muhammad Khurshid Khan advocate, challenging notification of the federal government about over 100 percent increase in fees for the CNICs in all categories. The petitioner submitted that the federal government through a statutory notification (SRO) had increased the fee for CNICs in all categories by more than hundred percent.

The fee has been doubled in all the categories while in the category of urgent CNIC, the fee has been increased up to 300 percent. According to the notification of the Interior Ministry, the normal fees for the CNICs has been increased from Rs200 to Rs400; urgent from Rs300 to Rs1150 and the fee for executive CNIC (Teslin-based) has been increased from Rs1,000 to Rs2,150.

Similarly, the fee for the normal smart card (chip-based CNIC) has been increased from Rs400 to Rs750; the urgent smart card from Rs800 to Rs1,500 and executive smart card from Rs1,600 to Rs2,500.

The new rates of NICOP (National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis) have also been fixed. The fee for normal smart NICOP (chip-based card) has been fixed at $39; urgent NICOP $57 and executive NICOP at $75 for Zone-A countries including Europe, the US and Canada.

For Middle East countries, which fall in Zone-B category, the new rates for smart NICOP (chip-based) normal has been fixed at $20, $30 for urgent and $40 for executive smart NICOP.