NRC directorate asks SC to push deadline for Assam data

The directorate tasked with publishing the remaining draft of Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) has approached the Supreme Court seeking more time beyond the original June 30 publication deadline because of floods in the riverine state.

Earlier, the apex court had fixed July 2 as the next date of hearing on the NRC case. However, after the first wave of floods since June 13, the NRC directorate moved the Supreme Court to seek a deferral of the deadline for publishing the remaining draft of the NRC.

India’s highest court is monitoring the exercise that aims to strike the names of illegal immigrants off the list of voters in the crucial border state that acts as the gateway to the country’s northeast. The first wave of floods has affected about half a million residents in seven districts of Assam, resulting in 25 deaths. The Coordinator of the NRC, Prateek Hajela, had told ET on June 25 that the floods could affect the publication timelines.


Abhijeet Sharma of Assam Public Works, the petitioner in the NRC case in the Supreme Court, said that the apex court will take up the case on July 2.