Flawed claims process will not ensure fair NRC: Atul Bora

GUWAHATI: In a letter to the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, Dispur legislator Atul Bora has alleged that the ‘troublesome’ claims and objection process cannot ensure a fair National Register of Citizens (NRC) update.

On Wednesday, the apex court extended the last date for submitting claims and objections to the draft NRC for Assam till December 31. Earlier, the deadline was December 15. The extension came after the state government, along with other petitioners in the case, prayed for the extension, citing the low rate of filing claims and objections.

“When the NRC authority itself has admitted that there were serious errors in the NRC list, then why was the public made to go through the exercise of claims and objections? The NRC authority should have been responsible for making an error-free NRC rather than pushing the public into the process,” the ruling party MLA said in the letter.

Following the release of the draft NRC list in July, the process of filing of objections and claims was initiated for those who were left out of the draft. In this process, the 40 lakh people who were not listed in the NRC draft were given a chance to file their claims. Complaints against suspected migrants who made it to the list were also sought.

“The reason behind the low turnout is that the complainant has to furnish the 21-digit Acquirer Received Number (ARN) of the applicant against whom the objection is to be filed. But since the ARN numbers are classified, how does the authority expect people to file objections?” Bora asked.

In his letter, he prayed to the SC to reform the NRC machinery to achieve a fair process. “The NRC authorities have been working for several years and still have not been able to prepare a correct NRC. The need of the hour is to strengthen and reform the NRC machinery for proper verification of all the documents submitted by the illegal foreign infiltrators for the inclusion of their names and take necessary action to exclude them. The responsibility should not be pushed to the public. Even an extension of a whole year can’t serve the purpose if the machinery is not reformed,” the letter added.