NRC Assam: Plea before Supreme Court to issue ID cards, start hearing appeals against exclusions

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice on a plea seeking directions to the Union government to issue national identity cards to persons included in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam and to start the appeal process for those excluded from it.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi also directed that the petition, filed by the Assam State Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, be tagged with a related pending matter.

"Issue notice. Tag with pending plea," the CJI said.

A response has thereby been sought from the Central government, the office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, the State of Assam and the office of the State Coordinator.

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam was compiled as part of an exercise to identify genuine Indian citizens and detect illegal migrants in the State.

Conducted under the supervision of the Supreme Court, the updated NRC was published on August 31, 2019, after requiring applicants to prove that they or their ancestors were present in India before the cut-off date of March 24, 1971, as stipulated under the Assam Accord.

Of the over 3.3 crore applicants, around 19.06 lakh people were excluded from the final list. However, the final NRC has not yet been formally notified by the Union government. Although the 2019 list has been treated as final by bodies such as the Foreigners' Tribunals, NRC certificates are yet to be issued to those included, and rejection slips are yet to be issued to those left out from the list.

This means that those excluded from the list are still awaiting the opportunity to challenge their exclusion before Foreigners' Tribunals.

The petition filed by the Assam State Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind seeks directions to rectify this state of affairs, so that those in the NRC list are issued certificates recognising their inclusion and so that those excluded from it are able to challenge the same before Foreigners' Tribunals.

During yesterday's hearing, Justice Bagchi observed that the legal position on the grant of certificates to those included in the NRC was not in doubt.

"Rule 13 is clear that NRC certificate shall be given," he said.

Senior Advocate MR Shamshad, appearing for the petitioner, told the bench that nothing had moved on the ground since the final register was published.

"Nothing is being done. People are suffering. Those excluded, they should be able to appeal. But nothing," he submitted.

The petition filed by the Assam State Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind highlights that the NRC exercise cost more than ₹1,600 crore but has now come to a standstill.

Follow-up steps that are yet to be taken include issuing national identity cards to included persons under Section 14A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, read with Rule 13 of the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, and starting the appeal process for excluded persons, the plea points out.

The petitioner has said this inaction leaves genuine citizens whose names appear in the NRC under a cloud, subject to continuing uncertainty and arbitrary treatment.

[Live Coverage]