Assam NRC: SC seeks views of stakeholders on SOP submitted by MHA

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 16

The Supreme Court on Thursday sought views of various stakeholders on the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) submitted by the Union Ministry of Home to deal with claims and objections against the Final Draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) of Assam that left out almost 40 lakh people.

A Bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Thursday also directed Assam NRC Coordinator Prateek Hajela to submit in a sealed cover the number and percentage of people left out of NRC in each district of the state.

The Bench has already made it clear that no coercive action would be taken against anyone on the basis of it.

The final Draft NRC for Assam published last month excluded 12 per cent of Assam’s population in a Supreme Court-monitored exercise to identify genuine Indian nationals living in the state.

To be recognised as citizens, all residents had to produce documents proving that they or their families lived in India before March 24, 1971.

In a report submitted to the court, Hajela had said that out of 3.29 crore people in Assam, names of 2.89 crore had been included in the Final Draft NRC while 40,70,707 people could not make it to the register. Of these, 37,59,630 names had been rejected and the remaining 2,48,077 were on hold, he had told the Bench on July 31.

On Thursday, the Bench—which also included Justice Rohinton F Nariman—allowed six stakeholders to submit their views on the SOP by August 25.

These included the three petitioners—Assam Public Works, Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha and All Assam Ahom Association and All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind.

However, it refused to hear others, including political parties, saying, “It’s our prerogative to decide whom we want to hear.”

The Bench approved August 30 as the date for commencing filing of claims and objections against the Final Draft NRC.

The MHA SOP had proposed two-month time for deciding claims and objections. But it said rest of the schedule would be decided in due course and fixed August 28 for further hearing.

It directed Hajela to make the Final Draft NRC available to panchayat offices and other such places to make it easier for affected people to access it.

The Bench clarified that it had not taken a final view on the transgenders who could not be included in the Final Draft NRC for various reasons after their counsel raised the issue.

A transgenders’ body wanted a second chance to be given to around 20,000 of which only 2,000 had applied and just a few got included in the Draft NRC.

The SOP filed by MHA last week said Indians who had moved to Assam from other states would be included in the NRC.

Amid concern over a large number of Indians being left out in the NRC exercise, the Centre had on August 14 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 NRC.

The MHA 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”.

It said the authorities examining the claims “will exercise great caution to ensure that no illegal person’s name is included…”

The top court maintained that the process adopted for deciding claims and objections 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 on July 31 said once the SOP was prepared, it would approve it if the process adopted was fair or else it would correct it.