Assam citizen list deadline pushed to July 30 by Supreme Court

Guwahati: The Supreme Court on Monday extended the deadline for publication of National Register of Citizens (NRC) by one month from June 30 to July 30, after the Centre and the state NRC coordinator agreed to publish it within the new time limit.

The bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and R.F. Nariman, after going through the plea of NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela agreed to extend the deadline.

Mr Hajela had expressed inability of NRC directorate in meeting the June 30 deadline of the court for publication of the final draft of NRC because of floods in Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi districts in the Barak Valley as well as in parts of Karbi Anglong and Hojai.

The court asked the state chief secretary and director general of police to provide adequate security to Mr Hajela and his family, including his children, in view of his work, and file a compliance report.

The top court said it would consider all interlocutory applications and other related matters at the next hearing on July 31.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had said that the claims of the citizens whose names do not feature in the draft NRC — published on the intervening night of December 31, 2017, and January 1 — will be scrutinised and included in the subsequent list if found genuine.

The first draft included names of 1.9 crore out of the 3.29 crore applicants. The verification of the second draft was completed by May 31, 2017. Of the 3.29 crore applications, there was confusion over the inclusion of 29 lakh people who submitted certificates issued by gram panchayats as proof of identity, after an order of the Gauhati high court in February deemed panchayat certificates invalid.

The final NRC will count only those as Indian citizens who can prove their residency in India on or before March 21, 1971.

Assam, which has faced an influx of people from Bangladesh since the early 20th century, is the only state having an NRC, which was first prepared in 1951. The population of Assam registered a phenomenal growth after 1951 as the 1961 census estimated that not less than 7.5 lakh Pakistani Muslims infiltrated into Assam between 1951 and 1961. The influx from erstwhile East Pakistan went up after 1961.