NRC: Supreme Court instructs Hajela ‘Don’t cut-short the process’

May 30: “You are the Coordinator, you have to coordinate and control. Merely disposing of claims is no good unless disposal is properly done.” This is what a vacation bench of the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Anirudhha Bose said to NRC Coordinator Prateek Hajela on Thursday.

“Just because the deadline (till July 31) for publishing the (final) NRC list is approaching, it doesn’t mean cut short and complete the process. If media reports are to be believed, it is not being done properly. Please ensure proper hearing of objections,” said Chief Justice Gogoi. The Supreme Court said officers involved in checking documents in the NRC exercise should be “fair” and not “cut short fair hearing”.

“There are disturbing reports in the media. The media is not always wrong. Reports say how complaints are being dealt with. Hearing of objections has to be done in a proper manner,” said the bench of the top court a day after reports said a retired soldier from Assam, who served in the Army for 30 years, was declared a foreigner by Assam police.

The court’s observation comes after a retired honorary lieutenant of the Indian Army, who had fought the Kargil war, was arrested by Assam Border Police in Guwahati and taken to the detention centre for illegal immigrants in Goalpara. Mohammed Sanaullah’s family has moved the Gauhati High Court. Sanaullah at present works as a sub-inspector with Assam Police’s border wing — a special wing that deals with detection of illegal migrants in the state.

The stated aim of the National Register of Citizens is to separate genuine Indian citizens from undocumented immigrants living in Assam. According to the terms, anyone who cannot prove that they or their ancestors entered the state before midnight on March 24, 1971, will be declared a foreigner. 

Also Read: NRC: List of excluded persons to be declared on 22 June