New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre and the Assam government to file their objections to a report of NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela on use of five documents for verification of citizenship claims. Around 40 lakh people have been left out in the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC). On the report of Hajela, a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice R F Nariman considered whether five documents, which were not allowed so far for considering the citizenship claims, can now be used.
The bench granted the opportunity to all the stakeholders including the State of Assam and the Union of India to file their objections to the stand taken by Hajela in his aforesaid report dated October 4. All Assam Students Union, All Assam Minorities Students’ Union, Jamait Ulama-i-Hind, Assam Public Works, Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha, National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Progressive), Indigenous Tribal Peoples Federation and Joint Action Committee for Bangali Refugees were also given opportunity to file their objections, if any.
The final draft NRC list was published on July 30 in which, the names of 40,70,707 people did not figure. President Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind Maulana Syed Arshad Madani welcomed the bench’s decision and hoped for justice to the Assam residents.