The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre and the state government to transfer Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) coordinator Prateek Hajela to Madhya Pradesh for the maximum period.

A special bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices S. A. Bobde and R. F. Nariman ordered inter-cadre transfer of Hajela on deputation. He had overseen the mammoth exercise of finalisation and publication of Assam NRC.

There were speculations that the direction comes on account of threat perceptions to the state NRC coordinator.

However, a top Assam police official said said that the state police were not asked to submit any report about perception of any threat to Hajela, adding that they were not aware of any possible threat to him.

'Reports about threat perception to Hajela have not been sought from us. There have been, however, criticism against Hajela in the social media. Various organisations in Assam are vocal on the NRC with many speaking against the NRC and the state coordinator,' IG (special branch) Hiren Nath told PTI.

When attorney-general K. K. Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, sought to know the reason behind the order, Gogoi tersely asked, 'Can any order be passed without a cause or reason?'

Since the bench chose not to specify the reason for the abrupt transfer of the officer, speculation was rife that it could be on account of possible threat to him.

The final NRC list was released on August 31 this year and over 19 lakh of more than 3.30 crore applicants were left out of it.

Hajela was the butt of criticism, with both the Centre and Assam's BJP government claiming a large number of genuine Indian citizens were left out and illegal Bangladeshi immigrants included in the list.

A few FIRs were also registered against Hajela.