NRC Assam: Supreme Court Questions Delhi’s Plea

A CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned till July 23 its hearing on the extension plea of the Central and State governments for publication of the final NRC. The apex court also asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for both the governments, to go through the report of NRC State coordinator Prateek Hajela on the issue of re-verification of names submitted to the court on July 10 and 18.

Earlier during the hearing, the Centre and the Assam Government had requested the Supreme Court to extend the July 31 deadline for publication of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) on the ground of conducting sample re-verification of names of those included in the complete draft NRC even as the apex court was not convinced with the governments’ plea.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted before a Special Bench of Chief Justice of India Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice RF Nariman that there have been a lot of wrongful inclusions and exclusions in the complete draft NRC published last year. A sample re-verification of at least 20% of the inclusions of persons residing in Assam’s districts bordering Bangladesh and 10% of those residing in other districts is, therefore, required, Mehta said while asserting that India cannot be the refugee capital of the world.

The Centre said re-verification should be done for both inclusions and exclusions in the final NRC. Seemingly not convinced with the Centre and Assam Government’s plea the Supreme Court referred to reports filed by State NRC Coordinator Prateek Hajela’s reports and said re-verification seemed to have been already done during the disposal of claims in the NRC process.

Quoting Hajela’s report, CJI Gogoi said while disposing of claims, 80 lakh names have been re-verified. He said at least 27% of names have already been re-verified and questioned the governments’ plea of re-verification.

Mehta, however, said Hajela’s reports may not truly reflect the reality on the ground. He said wrongful inclusions are manifold in the bordering districts and lakhs of illegal immigrants have been included in the complete draft NRC list. On other hand, Hajela pointed out that the NRC process has hit a roadblock in view of the current wave of floods in Assam, and requested extension of the deadline for publication of the final NRC by one month.

Also Read: “India cannot be world’s refugee capital”- Centre asks SC to extend the NRC deadline