NRC Updation Exercise: Supreme Court hearing today; stakeholders look for definite direction

Key issues: Alleged errors in updation & non-issuance of rejection orders

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: With the Supreme Court going to have its hearing on the petitions filed on the updation exercise of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) on Monday, the stakeholders are looking forward for a definite direction from the apex Court. This is especially because several key issues concerning the citizens’ register still remain to be resolved.

Among the pending points are the the alleged errors in the NRC updation exercise, and the non-issuance of rejection orders by the State Coordinator of NRC. As a result, even after four months since the publication of the NRC in August 2019, uncertainty prevails over the fate of more than 19 lakh people found ineligible for entry in the NRC. Altogether 19,06,657 names were rejected.

Assam Public Works (APW) president Abhijeet Sharma — the main petitioner — told The Sentinel, “We’re not satisfied with the final NRC that was published on August 31, 2019. Names of many Bangladeshis and jehadis have been included in this NRC. We’ve already provided the detailed information regarding this to the apex Court. The prime issue of our already filed plea before the Supreme Court is the overall review of this citizens’ register in Assam.”

The APW had filed a case in the Supreme Court way back in 2009 alleging that lakhs of Bangladeshis’ names have been included in the electoral roll. Based on this case, the Court subsequently directed the Central government to update the 1951 NRC. As a result, the NRC updating exercise was commenced in Assam. Later, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) also became a party in this case.

With respect to the allegations of financial irregularities while carrying out the exercise, Sharma added, “We recently received a copy of the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) report on the NRC. The CAG examined Rs 900 crore of the total Rs 1,600 crore (approximately) that was earmarked for the NRC updation exercise. The CAG report says that of the examined Rs 900 crore, it has found anomalies pertaining to Rs 150 crore.

“Much before the publication of NRC, the APW had stated that financial anomalies were taking place in the entire NRC updation work. We’ll place the afore-mentioned CAG report in front of the apex Court. Since there is a procedure for submitting documents in Court, we’ll seek a few more days’ time for this purpose.”

On other hand, AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi told The Sentinel that there are allegations that the final NRC published last year had included names of illegal foreigners and excluded names of original inhabitants of the State. “We have already filed a petition before the apex court seeking rectification in the final NRC. The names of original inhabitants excluded from the final NRC must be enrolled directly without any further verification. The AASU is hopeful of a positive direction from the SC,” Gogoi said.

The NRC exercise was carried out by the office of the State NRC Coordinator under the direct monitoring of the Supreme Court. The NRC document and its data are owned by the Registrar General of India (RGI) under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The RGI funded the entire exercise of the citizens’ register in Assam.

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