Supreme Court issues notice on plea seeking appeal process for people excluded from Assam NRC

The Supreme Court on Tuesday, July 21, issued notices to the Centre, the Assam government and other authorities on a plea seeking the initiation of the appeal process for people excluded from the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) published in Assam.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi was hearing a petition filed by the Assam State Jamiat Ulama.

During the hearing, counsel for the petitioner submitted that although the law provides an appeal mechanism for those excluded from the NRC, the process has not yet been initiated.

The counsel argued that those left out of the final register continued to face hardship due to the delay and informed the court that a similar petition on the issue was already pending.

Taking note of the submissions, the Bench issued notices to the Centre, the Assam government and the office of the State NRC Coordinator, and tagged the petition with the pending matter.

The petition also sought directions to the authorities to issue national identity cards under Section 14A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, read with Rule 13 of the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, to all persons whose names were included in the final NRC.

The updated final NRC for Assam was published on August 31, 2019, following a Supreme Court-monitored exercise to identify genuine Indian citizens residing in the State.

According to official figures, 3.30 crore people had applied for inclusion in the NRC. Of these, 3.11 crore were included in the final register, while 19.06 lakh applicants were excluded.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear the matter along with the connected petition after responses are filed by the respondents.