NICs to be mandatory from 15?

12 April 2013 07:01 am Views - 3268

The Registration of Persons Department has proposed to bring down the present age limit for individuals to obtain National Identity Cards from 16 to 15 years, officials said yesterday.

The Department has proposed to implement this decision along with the introduction of electronic NICs. The Department has sought to amend the Persons Registration Act to accommodate this proposal.  The Act, originally enacted in 1968, was amended twice in 1971.

A top Department official said the Attorney General’s Department was yet to give its nod for the proposed amendment.

Eight per cent of Sri Lanka’s population does not have NICs.  The situation is even worse in the north with as many as 18 percent above 16 not possessing NICs in the Wanni electoral district.(KB)