NEW DELHI: The
Supreme Court (
SC) on Tuesday deferred the receipt of claims and objections to
Assam's
final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) from the earlier scheduled August 30.
The reason the top court cited for the deferment is that it had some doubts about the contradictions in procedure for the receipt of claims and objections. It also said it would also like to conduct a sample re-verification of 10 per cent of NRC data, district-wise, by an independent team to satisfy itself that no error has crept into draft NRC.
The apex court also sought a report from NRC state coordinator Prateek Hajela about why those claiming inclusion be allowed to give fresh documents that could change their earlier claimed family tree.
In Assam's final draft NRC list published on July 30, 40 lakh people of a total of 3.29 crore people didn't make it to the list of citizens. Of the 40 lakh people not in the final draft, as many as 37.59 lakh names were rejected and 2.48 lakh names were put on hold.
Those who didn't make it to the final draft list were given a right to appeal, that is, the right to make claims and objections to be included on the NRC list. The process for doing this is set to begin on August 30 and continue until September 28.
On August 16, the SC said that as per rules, the period for receipt of claims and objections should be 30 days. It then also sought the views of stakeholders - including the All Assam Students Union (AASU), All Assam Minority Students Union (AAMSU) and Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind - on how to devise 'standard operating procedures' for the filing and disposal of claims and objections.
It asked the state NRC coordinator to file in a sealed cover the data of district-wise percentage of population, excluded from the NRC draft in the state. The bench also decided not to seek the views of any political party in this regard.
On August 7, the top court severely reprimanded the NRC's Assam state coordinator and its registrar for speaking to the media about the process that will be adopted for finalisation of the NRC draft.
"Get down to work for finalisation of NRC and never speak to media on this issue without SC's prior permission...How can officers appointed by the SC talk about something which is to be finalised by us," the SC fumed.
The SC Justices Ranjan Gogoi and R F Nariman were referring to state coordinator Prateek Hajela and registrar Shailesh.
Two days after the release of the final NRC draft, the SC said that no coercive step will be taken against the 40 lakh people left out of the list.
The border state of Assam has faced an influx of people from Bangladesh and other parts of the country at various times in the past and 'illegal immigrants' have been an emotive and political issue in a state highly divided along religious lines. Here's a comprehensive guide to understand what's at stake for Assam's people with regards to the NRC final draft:
Assam is the only state in the country to have a register of its citizens. The reason: the issue of illegal migration from Bangladesh, a Muslim country, is a hot button topic, with some groups claiming they are voting illegally and changing the demographic of the state.
