ASSAM NRC: Salient Features of centre’s SOP

-Dharmananda Deb, Advocate–

The Supreme Court had on July 31 directed the Centre to draft an SOP for dealing with claims and objections of people not included in the NRC. The process of looking into the claims and objections has to be based on fair procedure and considering the number of people who have been left out. The government should finalise the SOP and place before the court by mid-August for its approval, the order by a bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice RF Nariman said.

Accordingly, the Deputy Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, has submitted an affidavit on 13.08.2018 before the Supreme Court  enclosing thereto the modalities/ Standard Operating  Procedure for filing and disposal of claims and objections of  around 40,70,707 people do not figure in the list. Of these, 37,59,630 names have been rejected and the remaining 2,48,077 are on hold  in the final draft NRC published on July 30.

Some important benefits/points/concessions of Centre’s aforesaid draft SOP are as follows:-

(i) Any person wrongly as “D” Voters (DV) and Declared Foreigners (DF) or their descendants including those persons in whose respect the Judicial Authority/Foreigners Tribunal has given a decision declaring a person as Indian but the result has been put on “HOLD” will have an opportunity to submit the Claim Form.

(ii) The LRCR will receive the application and issue an acknowledgement of its receipt indicating the list of documents in similar manner as was done at the time of receiving the application in 2015.

(iii) The person filling claim may however submit additional eligible and valid legacy document.

(iv)  Relief eligibility certificate and camp inmate certificate both issued upto 24^th day of March,1971(midnight) which is one of the admissible legacy documents as mentioned in the Legacy document Listed-“A” at Sl.No.6.

(v) In addition to Legacy document Listed-“A” at Sl.No.9 may include any Government receipts, notices, Orders or records.

(vi)  In addition to Legacy document Listed-“A” at Sl.No.10 may be accepted as part of legacy document Pension Payment Order (PPO) showing employment/service in Government before 1971 even if it is issued subsequent to 1971.

(vii) In respect of Linkage i.e. List-“B” document, birth certificate with delayed registration beyond one year, Immunization records, ration cards will be subject to rigorous scrutiny and only on their veracity, may be considered.

(viii) The claim Form will require submission of particulars and copies only of additional documents. Documents submitted earlier need not be submitted again nor particulars of such documents is to be mentioned in the Claim Form.

(ix) The Claim Form will also provide for adequate space showing the claimant to give a descriptive “Grounds for Claim”.

(x) Special concessions have been made by the government for destitute people or orphans whose applications have been submitted by the institutional homes. They will not be governed by any requirement for documents and their citizenship will be based on alternative evidence if available through a separate committee consisting of DRCR, Additional Deputy Commissioner in-charge of NRC and the District Social welfare Officer.

(xi) The SOP also pointed out that the Supreme Court, in its July 21, 2015 order, had said “…Indian citizens including their children and descendants, who may have moved to the State of Assam subsequent to 24th March, 1971 would be eligible for inclusion in the NRC on adducing satisfactory proof of residence in any part of the country (outside Assam) as on 24th March 1971”.The government, however, said that in some cases, people have not been able to provide documents to prove their residence in any part of the country. For such people, it proposed to make provisions “similar to Rule 4 of the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003 and Clause 3(3) of the Schedule as follows :-

(a) Citizens of India who originate from other states in India and who do not have any origin in specified territory (Bangladesh) and have moved to State of Assam prior to 24th March 1971 or after will be included in the NRC if the citizenship of such persons is ascertained beyond reasonable doubt to the satisfaction of the authorities disposing of claims and objections.

(b) Cases of all such persons whether ordered for inclusion by the authority (disposing claims and objections), or for exclusion, will be examined first by the CRCR (Circle Registrar of Citizen Registration) and then by the DRCR (District Registrar of Citizen Registration). The final decision of inclusion or exclusion will be taken by the DRCR, who will issue a speaking order issued under his deal and signature.

The SOP stated, adding that “authorities examining the claim and the DRCR will exercise great caution to ensure that no illegal person’s name is included taking recourse to the above provisions”.

(xii) Claims involving children of 14 years who have been left out from the draft NRC and whose parents have included in it “will be segregated and pre-claim verification undertaken by CRCR to ascertain the short comings in linkage documents or any inconsistencies thereof.”  It said the DRCR concerned will ensure specific hearings for the composite family in respect of these children and oral and written evidences from parents will be available. This “special consideration” was needed, the government said, because adequate documentary evidence may not be available for children below age 14.

(xiii) The LRCR will issue notices for hearing in respect of disposing off claims and objections, correction or application in respect of D-Voters/declared Foreigners or their descendants. The Notice will be served at the place of local residence of the applicants as mentioned in the application. The LRCR will ensure that the applicant is served the notice at least 15 days prior to the date of hearing. If the notice is served late, an alternative date of hearing will be fixed and fresh notice with 15 days time  from its receipt will be ensured by LRCR. The Online facility of tracking notice will also be made available by the State Coordinator from the central data base.

(xiv) For the purpose of establishing the linkage,Oral evidence may be recorded of such persons who are blood relatives, namely siblings,close relatives or Government functionaries who can certify the linkage.

(xv) Other family members accompanying the applicant may provide assistance during the course of hearing.

(xvi) If the matter of claim/objection is not disposed of in one hearings, more number of hearings will be scheduled.

(xvii) The SOP also provides a timeline for completing tasks.

 (xviii) The officers who have decided the applications at the stage of draft NRC (LRCR) are not the decision-making authority at the stage of disposal of claims and objections.

(xix) The biometric enrolment in respect of persons who are part of claims and those persons objected upon will be distinctive and separate ID will be generated. Once the final NRC has been published such persons who are included in the NRC will be given the usual Aadhaar number as applicable to legal residents in the country.

(xx) The entire exercise would witness involvement of 2500 class-I officers with five hearings per day and eight per day in the case of children in the age group of 14 years or less.

The Supreme Court on Thursday sought views of various stakeholders on the draft Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) drawn up by the Centre as mentioned above .A bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and R F Nariman gave the (1) Assam Public Works (Petitioner in W.P (C) No.274/2009) (2)Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha(An indigenous Peoples organization of Assam)(3) National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Progressive) (4)Indigenous Tribal Peoples Federation(5)All Assam Bhojpuri Parishad (2 to 5 are petitioners in W.P (C) No.562/2012)(6)Joint Action Committee for Bangali Refugees (Petitioner in W.P (C) No.916/2014)(7)All Assam Minorities Students’ Union (AAMSU) (8)Jamait Ulama-i-Hind, time till August 25 to submit their views. The court also asked Assam NRC Coordinator Mr. Prateek Hazella to submit in a sealed cover by August 25, “the percentage of the population in each district (district-wise) who have been left out of the final draft NRC”. The bench said it had “read and considered” the SOP but was not commenting on any of the modalities suggested. The court said that SOP/modalities would be finalized on Aug 28, the next date of hearing.

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