NRC rejection slips in Assam likely to be delayed till October

Guwahati: The National Register of Citizens (NRC) issuance of rejection slips to may get delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and floods till October as officials have been "busy", said reports

Verification likely to carry out in September and start issuance of rejection slips in a staggered manner from the next month, as per reports.

Since anomalies have been found in several cases, NRC authorities have asked officials in different districts to verify the verbal orders.

The NRC has been prepared under Section 4A of the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, which provides for a separate citizenship law for Assam which is different from that for the rest of the country.

The final NRC list, published on August 31 last year, had found more than 31.1 million people eligible to be included in the registry while leaving out more than 1.9 million people.

"As there is an irregularity, there has to be a quality check. We have to give a speaking order to the person concerned with rejection slip. However, in several cases it has been seen that the names of people cleared by the officer on the ground were later rejected," said an NRC official has been quoted as saying by media.

"The process is caught in a stalemate. There is a section that wants to start rejection slip issuance without checking the irregularities concerned. However, without removing the discrepancies, it is not possible to issue a rejection slip." he further added.

The Supreme Court, which is monitoring the updation, had earlier rejected Assam and Centre's pleas for conducting a 20% sample re-verification of the draft NRC published on July 30, 2018, in districts bordering Bangladesh.

Replying on behalf of chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Assam's parliamentary affairs minister Chandra Mohan Patowary, who is also in-charge of the home department, had said in a written reply to a question in the state assembly in March this year that the rejection slips will mention the reasons for excluding a person's name from the final NRC.

However, the Centre imposed a nationwide lockdown from March 25 to curb the spread of Covid-19. Those who receive the rejection slips can move the foreigners' tribunal within 120 days for further claims. Assam has set up 200 foreigners' tribunals, doubling the number to deal with the expected demand.