Supreme Court raps Centre over NRC update

Supreme Court raps Centre over NRC update

If you (government) want NRC work to go on, there are 1,001 ways of doing it, says Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi

A CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Reacting to the Union Home Ministry’s request to withdraw Central forces deployed in Assam for National Register of Citizens (NRC) update for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Centre is hell-bent on not allowing the NRC process to progress.

The Supreme Court’s scathing remarks came after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Assam government, said the NRC exercise might have to be suspended from the last date of withdrawal of nominations till the final polling day of the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. Attorney General KK Venugopal, on behalf of the Centre, submitted before the court that the NRC exercise might have to be extended by two more weeks as Central forces from Assam would have to be withdrawn and redeployed.

The Centre sought permission from the apex court to withdraw 167 companies of the Central Armed Police Force currently engaged in the NRC work. The Centre said that it will have to engage the force to be withdrawn from Assam in maintaining law and order in the country during the Lok Sabha elections.

According to the governments in Delhi and Dispur, with more than 50,000 State government staffers employed for NRC update, conducting the NRC work and general elections in parallel might prove to be a logistical nightmare.

The government also told the Supreme Court that in the highly surcharged political atmosphere on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections hearing of claims and objections of the NRC exercise would not be conducive.

“At this stage, we’re not inclined to pass any order on the said request,” a division bench of the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman said. They, however, reiterated that the deadline for publishing the final NRC will not be extended beyond July 31, 2019.

Expressing disappointment with the non-cooperative attitude of the Central government, the Chief Justice said it seems that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) does not want the NRC update exercise carried out in a time-bound manner. “The entire effort of the Ministry is to destroy this process. If you want NRC work to go on, there are 1,001 ways of doing it. The government is not co-operating,” the Chief Justice said.

The apex Court has asked the Election Commission to consider the matter and submit its report to the Court. It has also asked the EC to exempt certain State officers from election duty to ensure that the NRC process continues without any hindrance. The case will again come for hearing in the first week of March.

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