NRC: Filing of claims to begin on Sep 25 says SC amid banter with Govt on public interest

New Delhi, Sep 19: While ordering the process of receipt of claims and objections from September 25 onwards in the Assam NRC matter, there was some interesting banter in the Supreme Court.

The court ordered the NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela not to share the information with anyone, in public interest. To this Attorney General K K Venugopal said public interest is as safe in the hands of the Union of India as in the hands of your lordships. Justice Ranjan Gogoi presiding over the Bench said, it is not safer.

Meanwhile the court ordered the filing of claims and objections by 40 lakh people excluded from the draft NRC to begin from September 25 for a period of 60 days. The court said that the claimant can rely on any one or more of 10 of total 15 documents in List of the Government's standard operating procedure. Justice Gogoi said that this was a concession they were giving.

The court also ordered Hajela to file the report on feasibility of using 5 no excluded documents in the claims and objection process. We can re-visit the issue after 30 days, the court said while scheduling the hearing for October 23, when the report of the NRC coordinator on the five documents will be discussed.