July 31 deadline for publication of final Assam NRC has to be adhered to, Supreme Court said.The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Assam state coordinator for National Register of Citizens (NRC) to ensure that fair procedure is adopted in dealing with claims and objections against exclusion or inclusion of citizens in the draft NRC.
A vacation bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Aniruddha Bose told state coordinator Prateek Hajela that even though the July 31 deadline for publication of final Assam NRC has to be adhered to, the claims and objections must be dealt with as per the law.
The bench also observed that it has gone through the progress report filed by the state coordinator in the matter and directed the official to coordinate with district level officers, who are involved in the process of dealing with claims and objections, so that a proper procedure is adopted.
“Your (Hajela’s) job is to ensure that hearing on claims and objections are done in a fair and proper manner,” the bench said.
“There is a deadline and a time frame. Just because there is a time frame that does not mean that your officers will cut short the process to complete it,” the bench added.
Referring to “disturbing” media reports regarding the procedure to deal with claims and objections, the bench said that the media is not always correct, but sometimes it is right.
“Ask your officers to follow the proper procedure in dealing with the claims and objections”, and give proper hearing to people on claims and objections, the bench told Hajela.
