Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha, which has challenged the validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, in the Supreme Court, on Sunday said the publication of the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) without disposing of its petition would create a “clumsy” situation in the state.

Section 6A, the result of the 1985 Assam Accord, prescribes March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for detection and deportation of illegal migrants and accordingly, the NRC is being updated in the state with the same cut-off date.

According to the Mahansangha, since Section 6A stipulates that all illegal migrants from Bangladesh, who entered Assam before the cut-off date, are accepted as Indian citizens, it is “discriminatory, arbitrary and illegal” and “ultra vires to the Constitution” because for the rest of the country, the cut-off date prescribed under Article 5 and 6 of the Constitution was July 19, 1949.

Motiur Rahman, executive president of the Mahasangha, said on December 17, 2014, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court had referred two separate petitions, one filed by it and another by Ahom Sabha, challenging the validity of Section 6A, to a five-judge Constitution bench. He said two other petitions on the same matter were also referred to the bench.

“However, even after over four years, the Constitution bench is yet to hear the matter,” he said. “We want the apex court to decide on the validity of Section 6A before the final NRC is published on July 31, or else it will create a clumsy situation in the state,” he added.

He said they had filed an interlocutory application in the Supreme Court for early hearing of its petition but the application was dismissed by the court on April 22, which said, “It is not possible to direct early hearing at this stage.”

Rahman said when the Supreme Court reopens on July 1 after vacation, the Mahasangha will step up its efforts, both inside and outside the court, to see that it decides on the validity of Section 6A before publication of the final NRC.

He rued that Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi is yet to constitute a Constitution bench to hear the matter.

Rahman opined that in the greater interest of the indigenous people of the state, it would have been proper to update the NRC only after the apex court decides on the validity of Section 6A.