Over the past week, Sikkim Police has been strictly enforcing the Sikkim Tenants and Domestic and Professional Helps (Compulsory Verification) Act, 2008, which requires property owners to report and verify the backgrounds of their tenants, domestic helpers, and professional assistants. The deadline for verification expired on February 10. However, on February 11, Sikkim’s Director General of Police (DGP) Akshay Sachdeva issued a clarification, exempting tenants who hold relevant documents proving their domicile in the state.
Anyone possessing a Sikkim Subject Certificate, Certificate of Identification, Voter ID Card of a Sikkim constituency, land documents in Sikkim, or a residential certificate from Sikkim is exempt from the verification process. The clarification came after an earlier announcement on January 31, which had included Sikkim document holders in the verification process.
In a press conference at the Sikkim Police headquarters in Gangtok, DGP Sachdeva stated, “Any person with any one of the five documents need not come for verification at the local police station. Even if they are domestic helpers residing away from their native home with Sikkim, they need not verify themselves. Students residing away from their native places also need not verify themselves. The government’s initiative is only against individuals who do not have the above-mentioned five documents.” However, every property owner who has a tenant from another state residing in their property must inform the local police. The verification cost is to be borne by the tenants themselves, according to the DGP.