Supreme Court extends Assam NRC publication deadline to Aug 31

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the deadline for publication of the National Register of Citizens in Assam by a month to August 31 but refused a plea by the state and Union governments to re-verify inclusions in the draft in districts bordering Bangladesh.

The final NRC was to be published by July 31. NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela had sought more time from the court to complete the exercise, which has been hit by elections and then floods. The bench comprising Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justice RF Nariman refused a demand by the Union and Assam governments to order a 20% reverification of those included in the NRC from the state’s border districts. Wrongful inclusions are more worrisome than exclusions, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had said.

However, the CJI was adamant that this was not necessary, a view also taken by Hajela. The CJI said that in the process of settling claims and objections, the NRC had reverified at least 27% of the inclusions as it involved re-examination of a person’s entire family tree. The central government urged the court to reconsider its position, but to no avail.


“Those who have crossed over from Bangladesh have taken over local jobs and lands from locals,” Mehta said. “To ensure that there is no hanky-panky, wrongdoing, a reverification is a must.” He attributed the inclusions to local influence, suggesting that some officials could have been reluctant to exclude them from the draft NRC.