Assam NRC: Supreme Court extends deadline for final release of list to August 31

The Supreme Court has extended its July 31 deadline to August 31 for publication of the final Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC).

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In Short

  • Supreme Court on Tuesday directed NRC coordinator to publish a public notice
  • The public notice will ask stakeholders to appear before SC on August 7 to raise their issues regarding NRC
  • All petitioners, who had approached the court with their issues, will now be heard on August 7

The Supreme Court has extended its July 31 deadline to August 31 for publication of the final Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC).

This came after the NRC coordinator sought more time to ensure that draft lists and the list of new names (added after considering exclusion/inclusion) are published.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday also directed the NRC coordinator to publish a public notice asking all stakeholders to appear before the top court on August 7 at 3 pm to raise their issues regarding the NRC. All petitioners, who had approached the court with their issues, will now be heard on August 7, the Supreme Court said.

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Pleas of Centre, Assam seeking 20% sample verification rejected

The Supreme Court also rejected pleas of the Centre and Assam in which they had sought 20 per cent sample verification to find out wrongful inclusions or exclusions in the NRC.

The plea was dismissed after NRC coordinator told the Supreme Court that there was no need for further re-verification as over 72 lakh people had been re-verified already to consider exclusion/inclusion of names in the list.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice R F Nariman had taken note of the submission of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the state government, that they be allowed to undertake verification of 20 per cent random samples of citizens for wrongful inclusions or exclusions in the NRC.

It also sought direction that such re-verification exercise to be conducted by Class I officers of the state government from other districts who have knowledge and experience of handling the process of enquiry/investigation.

The Centre and Assam had earlier sought from the Supreme Court extension of the July 31 deadline for finalisation of the NRC. The Centre and Assam made the request alleging wrongful inclusions and exclusions in the National Register of Citizens.

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