Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The Assam government has sought more time to respond to a Supreme Court directive on the steps taken to issue identity cards to those whose names were included in the NRC final list and rejection slips to those excluded from it.
The Assam government is now seeking two months' time to reply to the Supreme Court (SC) directive. The SC had earlier sought replies from both the central and Assam governments on the matter, but Dispur is dithering in providing a response.
When the final NRC list for Assam was published in 2019, a total of 3.11 crore names were included, and those of 19 lakh were excluded from the NRC.
Sources are questioning why the state government has sought more time to respond to the SC directive. Already, the state government had given an indication that the final NRC list 'was not acceptable'. The government insinuated that 'manipulations' occurred during the NRC update, which was done under the supervision of the SC.
The Assam government is seeking re-verification of the final NRC list, to the extent of 20% in border areas and 10% in the plain areas of the state.
It should be mentioned here that the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, Assam Sankhyalaghu Sangram Parishad and All Assam Minority Students' Union had filed a petition in the Supreme Court, complaining that those included in the final NRC list were facing different kinds of harassment and seeking the issue of identity cards for them so that they don't get harassed further. The petitioners said, "Despite the publication of the NRC list in August 2019, the authorities have failed to take the mandatory steps under the law, which is the issuance of national identity cards to the 3.11 crore citizens found eligible, as required under Rule 13 of the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules 2003, and also the issuance of rejection slips and initiation of appeals under Paragraph 8 of Schedule 2 Rule 4A of the said Rules for 19 lakh persons excluded from the NRC."
On the other hand, former NRC coordinator Hitesh Dev Sharma filed an interlocutory application, which stated that the NRC list should be re-verified, as there were several inaccuracies in it. Sharma's counsel, Manish Goswami, raised issues during an earlier hearing on the petition and sought its tagging with the ongoing proceedings. The SC ordered the tagging of Sharma's petition with the other pending petitions.
Also Read: Zubeen Garg Case: Court Grants Bail to Two PSOs in Disproportionate Assets Case