Supreme Court Extends National Register of Citizen (NRC) Deadline To August 31

A CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the deadline for the publication of final National Register of Citizen (NRC) to August 31.

Taking up the case, the apex court today accepted the proposal for extending the deadline due to the flood problem in the State and “for some necessary quality checking.”

The two-member division bench of the court comprising Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Fali Nariman, however, rejected the government’s pleas for 20 per cent verification along the border areas and 10 per cent verification in other areas of the State.

NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela had already informed the court that 27 per cent verification was already done.

The court has again called all the respondents in the case to come on August 7 with their responses over descendents of D voters or cases pending at the foreigners tribunal and their inclusion in the updated National Register of Citizen.

Welcoming the decision, All Assam Students Union (AASU) chief advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya said, “We welcome the apex court’s order. We believe that the NRC coordinator and both the governments at the Centre and State will take all steps for an error-free National Register of Citizen.”

Echoing the same view, Assam Public Works (APW) President Abhijeet Shama said that they welcome the court’s verdict. “We hope that the final National Register of Citizen will be errors free NRC. This National Register of Citizen should definitely not include any illegal foreigners name in it,” said Sharma. In fact, the APW has been demanding 100 per cent verification of the NTRC list.

Also Read: Read how to get your name on the NRC final list: SC extends the deadline by a month