The Assam government on Monday said the National Register of Citizens (NRC) authorities will start issuing rejection slips to the 19 lakh people who couldn’t make it to the register published in August last year.
The government also denied any move to update the NRC anew.
“The process to scan orders, issued by the NRC authorities, is on. Only 12 per cent work of scanning is left. We are planning to issue the rejection slips from March 20,” said Assam parliamentary affairs minister Chandra Mohan Patowary.
The rejection certificates will be required for the excluded to approach foreigners tribunal (FTs) to establish their citizenship.
The Assam government is ready with 200 new FTs, in addition to the existing 100 FTs, to meet the rush following slip issuance. Dispur is waiting for the NRC authorities to issue the rejection slips to operationalise the new tribunals.
In addition to these 300 FTs, the government had also started the process to operationalise 200 more such tribunals. But the process hit an uncertainty following the Centre’s reported move to update the NRC across the country.
Patowary told the Assembly that the government has not thought about updating the NRC yet again. Assam cabinet minister Himanta Biswa Sarma earlier said the state would not push for fresh NRC in Assam or be a part of the nationwide initiative provided data of 20 per cent names from border districts included in the complete draft NRC if re-verified error free.
Dispur had urged the Supreme Court to re-verify 20 per cent names included in the complete draft NRC from districts bordering Assam with Bangladesh and 10 per cent names of other districts. The court rejected the plea.
There are 2,500 NRC Seva Kendras in Assam. Patowary said the government is yet to pay Rs 2.16 crore for the buildings taken on rent to run the kendras. “So far, Rs 5.19 crore has been paid as rent and Rs 2.16 crore is yet to be paid. It will be released only after receiving funds from the Centre,” Patowary said.
The government has appointed 2,500 of its employees as local registrar of citizen registration and 157 as district registrar of citizen registration.
Patowary said so far Rs 1,348.13 crore has been allocated to update the NRC, of which Rs 1,348.1 crore spent. He added that 469 people have been working on contractual basis in the NRC update process.
Congress legislator Sherman Ali was marshalled out of the Assembly on Monday for “spoiling valuable time” of the House. Ali tried to raise his objections about appointing Hitesh Dev Sarma as NRC Assam coordinator during point of order. Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami said the point of order was not the right time to discuss the issue. When Ali insisted despite requests and warnings from the Speaker, he was marshalled out.
Ali had asked a starred question whether Sarma was “fit” for the purpose to which the government said “yes”.
Huge ruckus erupted on the first day of the Assembly session, as Opposition Congress and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) staged a walkout, protesting the Speaker’s decision on reserving the ruling on an adjournment motion.
The Opposition raised the adjournment motion on the government’s alleged misuse of power and imposition of stringent law to suppress the ongoing democratic movements.
While Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia said government violated the freedom of expression by imposing Section 144 during recent democratic protests, AIUDF legislator Hafiz Bashir Ahmed said the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is against the spirit of the Assam Accord and needs to be discussed.
Saikia said, “Violating the fundamental rights of citizens, the government targeted a section of people and put them behind bars in fake cases. That’s why we requested the Speaker to discuss the matter.”
Patowary said adjournment motion is not required as the matter is subjudice. After the discussion, the Speaker reserved the ruling till Tuesday.
Protesting to it, the Opposition legislators gathered in front of the Speaker and raised slogans against CAA and other issues. Later, they staged the walkout.
Additional reporting by Pranjal Baruah