SC says NRC process will go on, but checks coercive action

NEW DELHI: Amid an intensifying political confrontation over Assam’s National Register for Citizens, the Supreme Court stated on Tuesday that the exercise for verifying the citizenship of residents of the state will be taken to its logical conclusion, even as it asked the Centre to frame a “fair and equitable” standard operating procedure to adjudicate claims for Indian citizenship.



A bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and R F Nariman made it plain that the exercise being conducted under the court’s aegis to identify alleged aliens will not stop, but nipped the fear of any immediate fallout for the 40 lakh people who failed to make it to the draft NRC released on Monday by saying that no coercive step will be taken against them. Of the 40.07 lakh, the applications of 37.59 lakh were rejected and those of 2.48 lakh put on hold, state NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela told the SC.

Attorney general KK Venugopal told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the ministry concerned would prepare a detailed SOP to receive and adjudicate claims and objections of those excluded from Assam’s National Register for Citizens (NRC).


“Given the magnitude of the human dimensions of the problem, it would be appropriate if the SC assured the public against any coercive step on the basis of draft NRC,” the AG said.

The bench said it gives no assurance but passes orders. “In this regard, the court would like to observe that what has been published being a draft NRC, it cannot be the basis for any action by any authority,” it said, allaying fears among members of the minority community that they could face immediate deportation proceedings. It also said: “Whatever be the modalities in the SOP, it has to be a fair procedure. Those who have been excluded from the draft NRC must get a fair opportunity. Whatever SOP you (the Centre) want to frame to govern this (claims and objections) must be a fair procedure.”

Asked about a possible timeline, the AG said it will depend on the total number of claims and objections received. However, Justices Ranjan Gogoi and R F Nariman were firm to take to the logical conclusion the longdrawn exercise of preparation of the draft NRC, the credit of which largely goes to the bench for its untiring monitoring of the process undertaken by a team of thousands of state government officers, led by IIT Delhi's electronics graduate-turned-IAS officer Hajela since 2013.

The bench asked the Centre to place the draft SOP for receiving and adjudicating claims and objections before the court on August 16 for vetting. Making clear its intention to finalise the draft NRC in due course, the bench said: “We permit the concerned ministry of the Union government to frame modalities and place it before the court for dealing with claims and objections so as to enable publication of final NRC.” On August 16 it would draw up the time schedule for this, the court said.

Hajela told the court that the draft NRC would be on display at local registrar office from August 7 to permit the public to verify their names. “Those who have objections or claims against draft NRC can file it with supporting documents before the local registrar in 30 days from August 30 till September 28,” he said.

In what could whip up further controversy given the polarisation over draft NRC excluding over 40 lakh people, the Centre said it was thinking of seeking biometrics of those who make claims for citizenship to prevent them vanishing into other states by changing identities. He said biometrics would help authorities identify the non-citizens if they migrate to other states and change their identities.

The court asked Hajela about some newspaper reports about notifying of December 31 deadline for publishing of final NRC. Hajela said there was no truth in it and that December 31 deadline was for budgeting purposes relating to preparation of NRC.