SC notice to NRC-Assam State Coordinator for reviewing, deleting names from finalized NRC

The Supreme Court of India Friday issued notice to the NRC-Assam State co-ordinator, Hitesh Dev Sarma, for his action of reviewing and deleting names from the already finalised National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam.

A bench led by CJI SA Bobde sent the notice to Sarma.

The bench was hearing two petitions filed by Jamiat Ulema e Hind and All Assam Minorities Students Union (AAMSU) respectively against a circular issued by Sarma in October last year directing the identification and deletion of names from the finalised NRC, Assam.

The plea alleged that despite the completion of the exercise as per the Court's order and its monitoring, Sarma issued directions on October 13, 2020 for deleting 'ineligible persons belonging to the categories of DF (Declared Foreigner)/DV (D-Voters)/PFT (Pending cases before Foreigners' Tribunal) along with their descendants' from the final NRC, Assam.

The petition contended that the vague terminology of deletion of "descendants" from an already finalized NRC apart, the State Coordinator had blatantly claimed to have drawn authority from Clauses 4(3) and 4(6) of the Schedule to Rule 4A of the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens of Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, to conduct the reverification of the included names while the issue of reverification of included names had been considered and closed under the orders of the top court on 23.07.2019 when the court had specifically rejected the need for further reverification and directed the publication of the final NRC.

The petitioners were represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, assisted by Advocate on Record Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi.