SC extends Assam NRC claim filing till Dec 15

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 1

In a big relief to more than 40 lakh people left out of the Draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, the Supreme Court on Thursday extended from November 25 to December 15 the deadline for filing of claims and objections for inclusion of names.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi allowed claimants to rely on five additional documents objected to by NRC Coordinator Prateek Hajela. He had maintained allowing these documents to be relied upon, saying their “introduction now will create problems”, even as the Centre and the Assam Government favoured it. Hajela suspected these five documents were susceptible to misuse by illegal immigrants. “Merely because there are chances of it being fake or fake one’s being submitted in large numbers is no ground to shut it out totally,” the CJI said on doubts over Refugee Registration Certificate.

“We have analysed it carefully. We don’t think you are right,” the Bench, also including Justice RF Nariman told Hajela.

The Bench said to think that it was better to exclude eligible persons than to include ineligible ones was not right. It asked Hajela to carry out a rigorous process of verification to ensure that only eligible persons made it to the NRC.

The five documents are ration card, citizenship certificate and refugee registration certificate, NRC, 1951, Electoral Roll up to March 24, 1971 and certified copies of pre-1971 Electoral Roll, particularly those issued from the state of Tripura.

After the extended deadline for filing of claims and objections ends on December 15, notices would be issued to claimants till January 15, 2019 and verification of their claims would start from April 1, next year, the top court said.