Centre May Request SC to Extend NRC Deadline

New Delhi: The Centre is likely to move the Supreme Court, requesting it to extend the NRC final draft publication deadline from June 30 to July 8.

As per reports, the Centre would appraise the apex court of the grim flood situation in the state, due to which the verification process of legacy data have reportedly been affected in many NRC Seva Kendras.

However, a section of population from the state are viewing the Centre's move as a ploy to delay the publication of the NRC, and are of the opinion that the Centre wants to pass the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, before the final NRC data publication.

A Supreme Court bench comprising justices Ranjan Gogoi and R F Nariman had earlier ordered the Registrar-General of India (RGI) is to publish the final list on June 30, aimed at segregation of Indian citizens from those who entered the state illegally from Bangladesh after March 25, 1971.

Meanwhile, a Home Ministry source stated that the Assam government has requested for additional central security forces as precautionary measure and that the Centre was sending them as per the “assessment and availability.”

As per reports, the Union Home Ministry was concerned about the anxiety among members of a particular community, and its possible outcome after June 30.

The final draft will be put up at over 3,000 government NRC Seva Kendras across the state and will also be available on the website of the RGI.

When the NRC was first prepared in Assam in 1951, the state had around 80 lakh citizens, which now stands at nearly 3.5 crore.