Assam NRC: SC postponed the date of commencement of filing of Claim(s) against final Draft NRC

-Dharmananda Deb-

The Supreme Court had on July 31 permitted the Centre to prepare the details of the modalities to deal with the claims and objections following publication of the draft final NRC.As per direction of the Hon`ble Supreme Court, 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 Vide “Annexure-3” 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.

On 16th day of August, 2018 the Supreme Court sought views of various stakeholders on the draft Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) drawn up by the Centre as mentioned above. A bench of Hon`ble 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”.

Accordingly, on 24th August Assam NRC Coordinator Mr. Prateek Hazella has submitted a Report in sealed/taped cover envelope before the Hon`ble Court and Assam Public Works (Petitioner in W.P (C) No.274/2009)and Joint Action Committee for Bangali Refugees (Petitioner in W.P (C) No.916/2014) has also submitted their views in compliance of Court Order dated-16/08/2018. On 25th August, All Assam Minorities Students’ Union (AAMSU),Jamait Ulama-i-Hind and others also submitted their written views on Affidavit through their engaged Lawyer.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday i.e. 28/08/2018 raised doubts over the Centre’s proposal to allow a claimant to change his legacy and additional documents though included in List `A`. So, the Hon`ble Court requested Assam NRC Coordinator Mr. Prateek Hazella to file a report on the ramifications of the government’s proposal to submit fresh additional documents. Mr. Hajela has to file his report before September 5, the next date of hearing. Meanwhile, the court postponed the date of commencement of filing of Claim(s) to a later date from the proposed date of receipt. This stage was supposed to start within the next days, on August 30, 2018.
The Supreme Court further asked Mr. Hajela to submit a report with a time-frame to carry out the sample re-verification of at least 10 per cent of the names included in the final draft NRC. The Court also said that to carry out the above sample re-verification, “if required, by a team of NSK personnel from the neighbouring district.”
The next hearing on the matter will take place on 5th September, 2018.