The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended the last date of filing claims and objections on the inclusion of names in the draft National Register of Citizen (NRC) in Assam.
The last date which was earlier set as December 15, 2018, has been extended now to December 31, 2018. After the complete draft of the NRC was published on July 30, at least 40 lakh applicants were not named in the list.
A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman said that issuance of notice to those who filed claims and objections will commence on February 1, 2019, and the verification would be done from February 15.
NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela informed the apex court that out of the 40 lakh people who were left out of the final draft, 14.8 lakh people have filed the claims.
The court changed the deadline on an application by the Assam government which had on Tuesday sought a one-month extension for filing claims and objections.
The Assam government plea for extension of time was mentioned by Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta before the bench headed by CJI Gogoi.
The top court by its November 1 order had allowed about 40 lakh left out people to use five more identity documents — names in electoral roll up to March 24, 1971; Citizenship Certificate; Refugee Registration Certificate; certified copies of pre-1971 electoral roll, particularly, those issued by the state of Tripura; and Ration Card — for filing their claim for inclusion in NRC.
Assam, which faced an influx of people from Bangladesh since the early 20th century, is the only state having an NRC, first prepared in 1951. It is now being updated under the monitoring of the Supreme Court.
The complete draft of the NRC included the names of 2.9 crore people out of the total applications of 3.29 crore. There has been a huge controversy over the exclusion of 40 lakh people from the draft NRC.
Source: Zee News