Supreme Court Gives Time to Assam Government Till July 31 To Publish The Final NRC

Guwahati: The Supreme Court today said that the Assam Government had time till July 31 to publish the National Register of Citizens (NRC) during the course of the hearing today saying that the state coordinator can continue with his work on the NRC.

The state coordinator has been given the liberty by the top court to mention the matter before Registrar (Judicial) during summer vacation in case urgent hearing is required.

The NRC coordinator during the minute-long hearing told the supreme court that most of those who had objected against the non-inclusion of their names in the first draft aren't appearing to contest.

The Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi asked the coordinator to be brave and keep the law in mind while reiterating that the final NRC must come by July 31.

Both the Assam government and the Centre have been at the receiving end of the top court's ire over delays in publishing the NRC as well as identification and deportation of foreigners from the state.

The process of NRC update has entered the most crucial phase, hearing of objections for any wrong inclusion of names in the complete draft NRC from Monday.

The names of 40.07 lakh of the 3.29 crore applicants did not figure in the complete draft NRC that was published on July 30, 2018. While 36.2 lakh of the 40.07 lakh applicants not making it to the complete draft list claimed their eligibility for inclusion in the final National Register of Citizens, there were only two lakh objections against alleged wrong inclusion of names in the complete draft NRC.

The hearing of claims had been going on since February 15, 2019. The hearing, however, had to be interrupted from April 10-24, 2019, for the Lok Sabha polls in the State. This hearing is taking place in full swing now.

It was quite significant that after the publication of the complete draft NRC, many applicants who had not made it to the list were agile in making their claims for inclusion. However, there were a few people opposing any wrong inclusion into the complete draft list. A total of two lakh objections were registered on the last two days before the expiry of registering objections.

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