The final list, published in August last year, had excluded 19.22 lakh people (archive)
Guwahati:
At least two stakeholders in the case from the Assam National Citizen Registry have decided to approach the Supreme Court with new petitions, challenging the order of the NRC’s state coordinator, Hitesh Dev Sarma, to “remove” people’s names ” not eligible “from the final list.
“We have decided to file a new petition later this month to challenge this order, which somehow attempts to reopen the NRC when the final list was already published last year. In our opinion, he cannot issue such an order since his appointment as The NRC’s state coordinator has also been challenged in the Supreme Court and the matter is sub judice, “said Rezaul Karim Sarkar, president of the All Assam Minority Student Union (AAMSU).
Another petitioner, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, has also decided to go to the Supreme Court against the coordinator’s measure, sources said.
Sarma, earlier this month, wrote letters to the Deputy Commissioners (DC) and the Registrars of Citizens’ Registration (DRCR) for each of Assam’s 33 districts.
According to reports received from you, some names of ineligible persons belonging to the categories of DF (declared foreigners) / DV (doubtful voters) / PFT (pending in foreign courts), together with their descendants, have found entry into the NRC, “he had written.
The final list, released in August last year, had excluded 19.22 lakh people out of the nearly 3.3 million applicants.
The NRC rules allowed authorities to verify and remove improper inclusions (and exclusions) at any time prior to the publication of the final list. However, the final list was published on August 31, 2019, and an online list was published two weeks later.
In February, however, the NRC authorities began what they called a “part of the post-final NRC publication process, to verify whether any categories of ineligible persons had been included.”
The Assam government plans to file a new affidavit in the Supreme Court, seeking a sample reverification of 20% of the names included in the NRC.
Union Interior Minister Amit Shah had discussed the NRC issue with Assam’s Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal last month.
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