The crucial question of when the appeal process for those excluded from Assam’s final NRC will begin has once again come up before the Supreme Court. This time, the Supreme Court has issued notices to the Central Government, Assam Government and the Office of the State NRC Coordinator. At the same time, the court directed that the new petition be tagged with another pending petition on the same issue.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Bipul M. Pancholi issued the order on Tuesday. The matter came before the court during the hearing of a petition filed by Assam State Jamiat Ulema.
The petitioner submitted before the court that although there is a provision for appeal in the law, the process has not yet been started for those left out of the NRC. It was also informed to the court that due to this, the excluded persons are continuously facing various problems. The petitioner also mentioned that another petition on the same issue is already pending.
Taking note of this submission, the bench issued notices to the Central Government, Assam Government and the Office of the State NRC Coordinator. The bench also directed that the new petition be tagged with the pending case.
Further, the petition also seeks a direction to issue National Identity Cards to all persons whose names have been included in the final NRC, in accordance with Section 14A of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and Rule 13 of the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
It may be noted that the final NRC of Assam was published on 31st August, 2019 after a process supervised by the Supreme Court. As per government data, a total of 3.30 crore people had submitted applications. Of these, 3.11 crore people were included in the final list, while 19.06 lakh applicants were left out.
After receiving replies from the respondents, the Supreme Court will hear both the tagged petitions together.
