The Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) has called for an autonomous Nagaland Inner Line Regulation Commission to be constituted by law, arguing that Nagaland’s Inner Line Pass (ILP) system has a substantial enforcement gap despite years of government reviews and recommendations.
In a detailed representation to Chief Minister Dr Neiphiu Rio on October 1, the NSF said its recommendations were based on the proceedings of its two-day national seminar on the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR), 1873, held in Dimapur on August 28 and 29, an RTI exercise covering the Home Department and all 17 districts, earlier government committee reports, the May 2025 Cabinet decision and the Gauhati High Court’s June 2026 judgment on the ILP extension.
The federation said its RTI exercise produced 67 documents comprising about 1,490 pages and, according to its analysis, revealed gaps in enforcement, reporting, monitoring and coordination.
At the centre of its representation is the demand for a statutory commission that would serve as a single authority for ILP administration and enforcement, with powers to maintain a central register, call for district returns, frame and revise pass conditions under Section 4 of the BEFR and submit an annual report to the Legislative Assembly.
NSF cites enforcement and monitoring gaps
The federation said its records show that the state is detecting ILP violations but often lacks corresponding follow-up.
It cited a June 2025 drive in Zunheboto in which 78 persons were reportedly detected without valid passes, while the same response recorded no fines, deportations or pending cases. Chümoukedima, it said, reported 146 defaulters but no fines, with undertakings instead being taken from them.
The NSF further cited Nagaland Police records showing 644 defaulters detected after more than 1,900 passes were checked over two days in April 2026. It said the subsequent disposal of those cases was not reflected in the records available to it.
The federation also pointed to the absence of exit records. While the existing system records the issuance and validity of passes, it argued that there is no comprehensive mechanism showing when a permit holder actually leaves the state. It therefore wants a central real-time register recording the holder, purpose, guarantor or employer, entry, expiry and exit.
It also claimed that nine of the 17 districts did not provide information in response to its RTI applications, while several district records contained inconsistencies in figures relating to permits, fines and prosecutions.
The NSF has called for the existing fortnightly and monthly ILP reporting formats to be fully completed and for district-wise data on permits, violations, action taken and revenue to be published quarterly.
Wants stronger enforcement powers
The federation has called for written authorisation under Section 6 of the BEFR for designated police officers to arrest and produce persons found beyond the Inner Line without a pass or those violating pass conditions.
It has also sought clarification on which class of Magistrate should deal with offences under Sections 3 and 4, an end to the practice of releasing defaulters merely on undertakings to apply for passes, and a mechanism for holding and removing persons who violate the regulation.
The NSF has further sought amendment of the statutory penalty provisions, pointing out that the present maximum fine under Sections 3 and 4 is Rs 1,000. Pending any amendment, it has proposed using conditions attached to passes under Section 4, including cancellation, temporary debarment from reapplication and forfeiture of guarantor deposits where legally permissible.
It has also called for a review of check gates and checking points, along with stronger verification arrangements at major entry points. The government has already established an ILP facilitation counter at Dimapur Airport and a Tourist Information Centre-cum-ILP facility in Dimapur serving travellers arriving by road and rail.
Wants ILP linked with trade, land and tenancy
A significant part of the representation seeks to extend ILP compliance beyond the act of entry.
The NSF wants trade licences issued to non-indigenous persons to be linked with valid ILPs, with the licence period not extending beyond the validity of the pass. It has also proposed reconciliation of trade-licence and ILP records and similar coordination with tenancy and house-tax records.
It has called for Section 7 of the BEFR, which regulates acquisition of interests in land beyond the Inner Line by persons who are not natives of the specified districts, to be implemented through a notified sanctioning authority.
The federation has also sought stronger enforcement of the requirement for house owners to register non-local tenants and has proposed an inquiry into businesses allegedly operated by non-indigenous persons in the names of indigenous individuals.
Guarantors, terminology and community role
The NSF wants guarantors and employers to assume greater responsibility for ILP holders, including declarations of particulars, limits on the number of persons a guarantor can sponsor, deposits and reporting of expired passes.
It has also asked the government to officially use the term “Inner Line Pass” instead of “Inner Line Permit”, arguing that “pass” is the terminology used in the BEFR itself.
On verification, the federation has proposed that community and student organisations should participate only through joint drives authorised by the district administration, saying verification should remain a function of the state while community vigilance is formally brought within a lawful framework.
Says earlier recommendations remain largely unimplemented
The NSF’s representation also revisits government committees constituted in 2007, 2015, 2017 and 2018, saying successive reviews had already recommended measures including district-level ILP cells, stronger penalties, guarantor accountability, airport and railway counters, digitalisation, police verification, detention arrangements and linking trade licences with ILP validity.
It also points to the Cabinet decision of May 14, 2025 for a multi-departmental ILP enforcement directorate, saying it could not find in the records supplied to it a subsequent notification establishing the directorate, naming its head or specifying its sanctioned strength and budget.
The federation said its own 10-point memorandum submitted in April 2025 had received responses on technology-related issues but, according to it, no substantive response from the government on enforcement-related demands.
The NSF has framed its latest representation against the backdrop of the Gauhati High Court’s June 2026 judgment concerning the extension of the ILP regime to Dimapur, Chümoukedima and Niuland. The government has also continued to implement and revise the ILP system through online applications and updated district guidelines.
The federation said it is not seeking to close Nagaland or deny entry on the basis of origin, language, religion or community, and said the objective is to ensure that the state knows who is within the Inner Line, under what pass and for what purpose, and when that person has left.
It has asked the government to provide a written response within 30 days, stating its position on each of the recommendations and, where accepted, identifying the instrument and date for implementation.
