Gram Panchayat certificates no proof of citizenship: Supreme Court

GUWAHATI: Supreme Court of India which is monitoring the updation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) 1951 on Wednesday completed hearing on if document issued by Panchayat can be considered as a proof of citizenship however the apex court has reserved the judgement.

Aabhijeet Sharma president of NGO, Assam Public Works (APW), who is one of the petitioner said that court has reserved the judgement on panchayat document issue.

On November 29 and 30 the court will hear the petition on original inhabitant and Registrar General of India (RGI), Sailesh’s submission before the Supreme court that the entire process of preparation and publication of the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) to be completed on or before July 31, 2018.

Earlier the state government has announced that draft NRC will be published by December 31, 2017.Gauhati High Court early this year passed an order that panchayat residency certificate has “no statutory sanctity".

NRC state coordinator Prateek Hajela earlier informed Supreme Court said that around 48 lakh people have submitted panchayat certificates as document, out of which 17.4 lakh have been identified as original inhabitants. The rest are being examined.

Hajela, has submitted a status report where he submitted that out 3.21 crore applications of which around 2 crore have been verified. Meanwhile former Assam chief minister and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said AGP which is partner in the BJP led coalition government in Assam will be forced to pull out of the government in Assam if the Centre goes ahead with the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which seeks to grant citizenship to Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh.