The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the Centre and the Assam government's prayer for a sample reverification of names included in the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the northeastern state.
In the last hearing on July 19, solicitor-general Tushar Mehta had asked the apex court to allow verification of 20 per cent random samples of citizens to check for wrongful inclusion in the draft list. “India cannot be the refugee capital of the world,” Mehta had said.
On Tuesday, the apex court said: 'We do not consider it necessary to accede to the prayers for a further sample verification as prayed for on behalf of the Union of India and the State of Assam.” The bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice R.F. Nariman, however, agreed to the state coordinator’s request of extending the deadline for the final list from July 31 to August 31.
The All Assam Minority Student’s Union (AAMSU) had said that the demand of reverification was a ploy to delay the process for political gain.
“This was a conspiracy by the Government of India and the Assam government to delay the process of the NRC, but the Supreme Court has stopped this conspiracy by quashing the demand,” AAMSU president Azizur Rahman said. “This 20 per cent reverification would have taken six or more months. One month’s extension is for those who cannot make it to the hearings and for other official work.”
News reports have emerged from Assam, in the middle of massive floods, that people were refusing to abandon their near-under-water homes in case officials came calling to check addresses. Some others were worried they would lose their NRC documents in the deluge.
Assam’s elaborate process of weeding out so called foreigners through a revision of the NRC started in December 2013. The midnight of March 24, 1971, was set as the cut-off date based on which residents of Assam have to prove their nationality and get their name included in the NRC by submitting specific documents as proof.
“This reverification business should not be started because this is an endless process,” said Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, the Supreme Court advocate representing AAMSU.
In its Tuesday order, the Supreme Court referred to the state coordinator’s report to say that a “re-verification to the extent of 27 per cent has already been done.”
“In fact, in the said report, the learned coordinator has mentioned district-wise figures of such re-verification which has become an integral part of the process of consideration of the claims and objections on account of the procedure adopted,” the court said.
Ayyubi explained the 27 per cent re-verification figure quoted in the court. “Assuming that if I’m making a claim, I’ll show that my sister, or a brother or someone else has already been included. In that regard, brothers or sisters, whose name are included (in the NRC draft list) have to appear and be verified. In that way, re-verification is already being done,” Ayyubi said.
The petition in the Supreme Court last time also attached a memorandum submitted to the President by a little-known NGO called Sachetan Nagarik Mancha. The Mancha’s president Chandan Bhattacharjya was disappointed with today's order.
“Our demand is an error-free NRC, which means Bangladeshi-free NRC. So, we are not satisfied with the Supreme Court order today because this re-verification is very important.' Bhattacharjya doesn’t trust the NRC machinery to deliver an error-free NRC. “Just yesterday, they arrested a Rohingya whose name was included in the NRC list,” he said, although the NRC state coordinator in a statement on Monday has denied any such inclusion in the NRC draft list.
