Name excluded in NRC: Long drawn legal battle explained step by step

Guwahati, Aug 31: The Final NRC list was released today and over 19 lakh names were excluded.

State NRC coordinator, Prateek Hajela said that any person who is not satisfied with the outcome of the claims and objections can file appeal before the Foreigners Tribunals.

As many as 200 additional foreigners tribunals will be operational in Assam from Monday where bona fide citizens, whose names do not figure in the final NRC, can approach to challenge their exclusion, officials said on Friday.

These tribunals are being set up by the Assam government with the Centre's assistance.

Under Section 8 of the Schedule to the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and issue of National Identity Cards) Rules 2003, a person whose name has been excluded can appeal.

The first appeal would be before the Foreigners Tribunal, within 120 days, that is before December 31 2019. The case would need to be disposed off within 6 months. If a person is not satisfied with the decision of the FT, he or she can prefer an appeal in the High Court. The ordered of the High Court can be appealed in the Supreme Court as well. The decision of the Supreme Court, will be final.

The home ministry had planned to set up a total of 1,000 foreigners tribunal in phases.
When the draft NRC was published on July 30 last year, there was a huge controversy over the exclusion of 40.7 lakh people from it.

The draft included names of 2.9 crore people out of 3.29 crore applicants. In addition to those excluded, the names of over a lakh people were also left out in a list published last month.

The Supreme Court-monitored NRC exercise, aimed at identifying illegal immigrants, mostly from Bangladesh, was carried out only in Assam, which has been facing influx of people from the neighbouring country since the early 20th century.