Bench says authorities will have to comply with the legal process in the Citizenship Act, instructs Attorney General to lay down fair procedure.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court Tuesday cautioned the Centre against taking any coercive action against those whose names did not feature on the second list of the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.
It also refused to say anything about the Centre’s proposal to use biometrics to track those who have been left off the list.
The Sarbananda Sonowal-led BJP government in Assam released the second draft of the NRC Monday — more than six months after the first draft was released — featuring 2.89 crore names and leaving out at least 40 lakh people.
When its first draft was published on 31 December, 2017, the NRC caused concerns in some sections of society since several names were missing from the list. At the time, the state government had assured its people that another list was yet to be published.
An apex court bench comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Rohinton Nariman observed that the new list was also a draft, and the procedure envisaged under the law would have to be implemented at the earliest.
“In this regard, the court would like to observe that what has been published is a complete draft of NRC and it can’t be the basis for any action by any authority,” the SC recorded in its order.
The bench further pointed out that the authorities will have to comply with the legal process in the Citizenship Act and “a fair procedure will have to be laid down”. It then directed Attorney General K.K. Venugopal to frame the standard operating procedure (SOP) for this purpose, and submit it in court before the next date of hearing on 16 August.
Also read: Blame for Assam’s NRC chaos lies squarely at Supreme Court’s door
What the compliance report says
Prateek Hajela, the state coordinator who is responsible for executing this court-monitored exercise, submitted a compliance report, as directed by the apex court bench.
The report submitted that the list will be available for the people to access till 7 August, and those who wished to file claims could do so between 30 August and 28 September.
Hajela told the bench that affected persons can go to NRC Sewa Kendras and Local Registrars up to 7 August to find out why their names didn’t figure in the complete draft.
Biometrics for those not on the list?
Venugopal, on behalf of the Centre, proposed that the government will collect biometric data of the 40 lakh people excluded from the NRC.
However, the bench refrained from commenting and said: “We won’t express any opinion. You give the SOP to us and prepare it after taking into confidence the state coordinator. You do what you think is right and we will do what we think is right. We will modify it if necessary.”
What is the NRC?
The NRC, first published after the 1951 Census, is now being updated keeping 24 March, 1971, as the cut-off date, to identify those who immigrated to Assam illegally from what is now Bangladesh. Effectively, the purpose of the process is to determine who in Assam are genuine Indian citizens and who are illegal immigrants.
This court-monitored exercise began in September 2015 under Tarun Gogoi’s Congress government. It was taken forward by Sarbananda Sonowal’s BJP government after it came to power in 2016.
It involves multiple steps — inviting and receiving applications, verification, publication of the first draft, publication of the complete draft, receipt and disposal of claims and objections, and finally, the publication of the final list.
The list released Monday is still just the complete draft — those who have been left out will be given a chance to make claims and objections, before the final list is out. The final list will be referred to the Foreigners Tribunal, and those left out can appeal to the courts.
Also read: Just as in the state, Delhi’s Assamese too are divided over NRC
Trust the apex court to always rise to the occasion. From the other side of the governance spectrum, CM Mamata Banerjee has cautioned what hasty action could lead to. Time now for collective responsibility and statesmanship. A cabinet minister from Bangladesh has stated on record that the four million individuals whose names do not appear in the NRC are not citizens of his country and that this is India’s internal issue.