Supreme Court to hear all arguments relating to NRC on February 14

A five-member Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on January 10 listed the National Register of Citizens (NRC) hearing on February 14.

The development comes after the apex court presided over the hearing of pleas challenging the matter of fixing of base year for NRC on January 10.

The court also directed to gather all arguments relating to the NRC determining the base year for the inclusion of names in the National Register of Citizens. 

Earlier, the Supreme Court had also decided to follow a plan for determining the base year for NRC name inclusion. Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, which was added in 1985 as a result of an amendment in support of the Assam Accord, had been the subject of arguments in the Supreme Court challenging its constitutionality.

According to the provision, individuals who arrived in Assam on or after January 1, 1966, but before March 25, 1971, from certain territories—including Bangladesh in 1985—and have since become residents of Assam are required to register for citizenship under Section 18. 

As a result, the deadline for granting citizenship to Bangladeshi migrants in Assam is set at March 25, 1971.

Section 6A's opponents have argued that the provision is discriminatory because it was specifically enacted to safeguard Bangladeshi trespassers from Assam.

The petitioners have requested that the National Register of Citizens in Assam be updated using 1951 as the base year and that Section 6A be struck down as ultra vires.

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