New Delhi, Nov 1: In a major relief for over 40 lakh people left out of the final draft of the Assam NRC, the Supreme Court on Thursday extended the last date for filing their claims and objections from November 25 to December 15.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi also allowed claimants for Assam NRC to rely on five additional documents which were earlier objected to by NRC coordinator.
These five documents are: NRC of 1951, voter list of 1966, voter list of 1971, refugee registration certificate till 1971 and ration card issued till 1971. Until now, 10 legacy documents could be used for inclusion and exclusion in the draft NRC, which should have been issued by various authorities and corporations since midnight of March 24, 1971. The top court also fixed timeline for issuance of notice as January 15 to claimants and verification of documents as February 1. The first draft of the NRC for Assam was published on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1 in accordance with the top court's direction. Names of 1.9 crore people out of the 3.29 crore applicants were incorporated then. The final draft NRC list was published on July 30 in which names of 2.89 crore of the 3.29 crore people were included. The names of 40,70,707 people did not figure in the list. Of these, 37,59,630 names have been rejected and the remaining 2,48,077 are on hold. On July 31, the apex court had made it clear that there will be no coercive action by the authorities against over 40 lakh people, whose names did not figure in the NRC while observing that it was merely a draft. On August 14, the Centre had told the apex court that distinct IDs will be created by collecting biometric details of 40 lakh people filing claims and objections with respect to the NRC. Assam, which had faced influx of people from Bangladesh since the early 20th century, is the only state having an NRC which was first prepared in 1951.