Supreme Court seeks district-wise percentage of people left out of draft NRC

The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the district-wise percentage of people left out of the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.

A bench comprising justices Ranjan Gogoi, Navin Sinha and K M Joseph asked NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela to submit the details in a sealed cover on August 28 when the court would take up the matter again.

Over 40 lakh people were excluded from the final NRC draft, which was published on July 30, to determine the citizenship of those living in Assam.

The top court had a day later said no coercive action would be taken against those left out of the draft.

The court asked Hajela to provide copies of the draft NRC to panchayats for the public to access them easily.

It said the forms for claims and objections to NRC will be available from August 20 and their submissions would commence on August 30.

The court said it would not allow any political party or fresh interveners to file objections or suggestions for the Centre’s standard operating procedures (SOPs) for dealing with claims and objections to the draft NRC.

“We are not making any comment or observations at this stage on the SOPs,” the bench said.

The court said the timelines mentioned in the Centre’s SOPs would not be applicable until the court finalizes them.

Justice Gogoi said no when a counsel persisted. “Who will be permitted, we will decide... it is our discretion. It is our privilege,” Gogoi said. He added no political party would be allowed.

The remark was made after Hajela said political parties had earlier been consulted in response to a query from the bench. The NRC was updated on the top court’s direction to identify illegal migrants.