Assam: SC gives 60-day window to people excluded from NRC list to make their claims

People whose names are not on the Assam citizen’s list can claim from September 25 onward.  The division bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi has doubled the filling period from 30 days to 60 days.

Earlier, this month the court had deferred the process until further order.“We are granting a second opportunity to persons who have been left out of draft Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) keeping in mind the magnitude of the issue,” SC quoted as saying.

According to the report, the next hearing will be conducted on October 23. The court also sought the view of Prateek Hajela, coordinator of Assam NRC, on Centre’s stand on the acceptability of certain documents for inclusion of these people’s name in the NRC.

In the final draft of the NRC, more than 40 lakh applicants were excluded from the historic documents that are said to be a proof of Assamese identity. The draft comprised names of 2.9 crore people out of the total 3.29 crore applicants.

Since the draft was published, it has been extensively criticised by the opposition parties, specially Trinamool Congress for calling it an attack on Muslims.  Those Indian citizens who have been residing in Assam before 25 March 1971, will be included in NRC.

The application process for the NRC was started in May 2015 and a total of 6.5 crore documents were received from 68.27 lakh families across Assam. Do you know, Assam is the only Indian state to have an NRC due to the influx of people from Bangladesh since the early 20th century. Assam NRC was first prepared in 1951.

Also read: Amit Shah on Assam NRC issue: Will pick, throw illegal immigrants out