Indians who moved to Assam from other states to be included in NRC: Centre to SC

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 14 

Amid concern over a large number of Indians being left out in National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Centre on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that Indian citizens who moved to Assam from other states before or after March 24, 1971, cut-off date will be included in the National Register of Citizens.

The central government made it clear that the concession would be applicable to only those “who do not have any origin in Specified Territory (Bangladesh)” and they will be included in the NRC “if the citizenship of such persons is ascertained beyond reasonable doubt to the satisfaction of the authorities disposing of claims and objections”.

In the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) drafted to deal with claims and objections of those left out in the exercise, the Centre told the top court that the authorities examining the claims “will exercise great caution to ensure that no illegal person’s name is included”.

The top court had on July 21, 2015 order said that "Indian citizens, including their children and descendants, who may have moved to the State of Assam subsequent to 24th March, 1971, would be eligible for inclusion in the NRC on adducing satisfactory proof of residence in any part of the country (ourside Assam as on 24th March 1971".

The Final Draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam published last month had excluded 40 lakh people i.e. 12 per cent of Assam’s population, and the Supreme Court had on July 31 said "it can't form the basis for any action", as it was only a draft NRC. To be recognised as citizens, all residents had to produce documents proving that they or their families lived in India before March 24, 1971.

The top court had asked the Centre to prepare an SOP for deciding claims and objections against exclusions and inclusions by August 16, the next date of hearing. It said the process adopted had to be fair and every affected person must be given proper opportunity to be heard before their claims and objections were disposed of.

The Bench had said once the SOP was prepared it would approve it if the process adopted was fair, else it would correct it. The court will consider the SOP on August 16.

The Centre has suggested extending the time for filing claims and objections regarding inclusion of names in the draft NRC from the one to two months.

Claims involving children of 14 years who have been left out from the draft NRC and whose parents have included in it "will be segregated and pre-claim verification undertaken by CRCR to ascertain the shortcomings in linkage documents or any inconsistencies thereof".

The DRCR concerned will cause specific hearings for the composite family in respect of these children and oral and written evidences from parents will be available. This "special consideration" was needed as adequate documentary evidence may not be available for children less than 14 years, the Centre submitted.