Supreme Court postpones hearing on NRC sample re-verification plea to Tuesday

July 19: Extension of the 31 July, 2019 deadline of declaration of final list of National Register of Citizens (NRC) was sought by both the Union Government and Assam Government. In this connection, the central and state governments moved the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court bench comprising of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice R.F. Nariman heard the submission made by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on Friday. The Solicitor General apprised the apex court that the Union & the state government have urged for sample verification of citizens included in the final draft NRC list on the ground that lakhs of people living in border areas have been wrongly included in the said list by the local officials involved in the process.

It is on this ground that extension of the 31 July deadline for publication of Final NRC was sought. Tushar Mehta in his presentation argued that India cannot be the refugee capital of the world. He further said that illegal migrants shall have no place in the country. He said, “There should be atleast 20 per cent sample re-verification of the inclusions of persons residing in Assam bordering Bangladesh.”

On hearing the Solicitor General, the Supreme  Court bench comprising of the Chief Justice and Justice Nariman postponed the hearing of NRC sample re-verification plea to Tuesday.

The NRC is being updated in Assam to detect foreigners living illegally in the state.