Guwahati: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has detected large-scale anomalies in the updation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam and flagged the “risk of data tampering” due to “improper software development” for the exercise.
The updation process of the 1951 NRC for Assam, in order to detect illegal immigrants who entered the state after March 25, 1971, was done under the supervision of the Supreme Court. The updated final NRC was released on August 31, 2019 and it left out 1.9 million of the 33 million applicants on suspicion of their claims as Indian citizens.
“In NRC updation process, a highly secure and reliable software was required to be developed, but during the audit, lack of proper planning in this regard came to the fore,” the CAG said in a report that was tabled before the Assam legislative assembly on Friday.
It pointed out that “215 software utilities were added in a haphazard manner to the core software”.
The report said these were done without following due processes of either software development, or selection of vendors through eligibility assessment following national tendering.
{{/usCountry}}The report said these were done without following due processes of either software development, or selection of vendors through eligibility assessment following national tendering.
{{/usCountry}}“Haphazard development of software and utilities for NRC data capture and correction posed the risk of data tampering, without leaving any audit trail,” said the CAG report for the year ended on March 31, 2020. “The audit trail could have ensured accountability for the veracity of NRC data.”
It added: “Thus, the intended objective of preparing a valid, error-free NRC has not been met despite direct expenditure of ₹1,579.78 crore as well as manpower cost of development of a large number of government servants ranging from 40,000 to 71,000.”
The report further highlighted the escalation of project cost in the process from ₹288.18 crore in 2014 to ₹1,602.66 crore (when the process was completed in 2019) due to time overrun and significant change in scope of the initially conceptualised NRC updation software.
The CAG recommended fixing of responsibility of the state coordinator of NRC and action in a time-bound manner for the excess, irregular and inadmissible payment made to the vendor.
It also suggested penal action against systems integrator (M/S Wipro Limited) for violation of Minimum Wages (MW) Act as payments were made to (data entry) operators at a rate less than minimum wages.
“Accountability of the state coordinator of NRC, as principal employer, should also be fixed for not ensuring compliance with the MW Act,” the report added.
Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the next course of action will be taken based in the CAG report.
“We had been waiting for the report of CAG with regards to irregularities in NRC updation process. Now that the report has been submitted, we will take a call on the next course of action,” Sarma told reporters.
Within weeks of the NRC list getting released in August 2019, IAS officer Prateek Hajela, who had overseen the entire process being the state NRC coordinator at the time, was transferred to his parent state Madhya Pradesh following instructions of the Supreme Court, which was monitoring the NRC updation process.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government had rejected the final NRC, claiming it had many anomalies and left out eligible people and included illegal immigrants. The state government has since approached the Supreme Court, seeking a review of the entire exercise.
The final NRC list is yet to be notified by the Registrar General of India, leading to a long wait by those left out of the list to file appeals before foreigners’ tribunals seeking inclusion as citizens.
Several local groups and organisations in the northeastern state have also rejected the list and moved the apex court, seeking review of the process. All petitions are pending before the top court.
In May this year, Hajela’s successor as state coordinator of NRC Hitesh Dev Sarma lodged a police complaint against his predecessor alleging treason for intentionally allowing irregularities in preparing the list which resulted illegal immigrants to register their names as Indians.
Sarma has alleged that Hajela “knowingly disobeyed law, willfully avoided proper quality checks” in the process of updating NRC and “allowed declared foreigners, doubtful voters and their descendants to enlist their names”.
“We had stated even before publication of final NRC that Hajela was involved in irregularities. Now the CAG has officially acknowledged the anomalies and corruption,” said Abhijeet Sharma of Assam Public Works (APW), a Guwahati-based NGO whose petition in the Supreme Court set the NRC updation exercise rolling. The NGO has also filed three cases of irregularities and corruption against Hajela.