Assam NRC deadline extended by Supreme Court to August 31, sample verification plea declined

The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the deadline for the final publication of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam from July 31 to August 31, 2019. However, the top court has rejected the pleas of the Centre and Assam government seeking 20 per cent sample verification to find out wrongful inclusions or exclusions in the final draft of the NRC.

"Supreme Court extends the final publication of National Register of Citizens (NRC) deadline from July 31 to August 31, 2019," the news agency ANI reported.

Supreme Court extends the final publication of National Register of Citizens (NRC) deadline from July 31 to August 31, 2019. pic.twitter.com/MJhSizldLq

— ANI (@ANI) July 23, 2019

Rejecting the plea for sample verification, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi said the authority has already conducted 27 per cent re-verification in the process of adjudication of fresh claims and objections. Gogoi was referring to a report of NRC state co-ordinator Prateek Hajela.

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On July 17, both the governments moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction for 20 percent sample re-verification of names included in the final NRC draft in the districts of Assam bordering Bangladesh and 10 percent sample re-verification of names included in the final draft in the remaining districts.

The Centre's plea has also sought to suitably modify the time-line fixed for publication of the final list of NRC from July 31 to a future date.

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The first draft of the NRC for Assam was published on the intervening night of December 31, 2017 and January 1, 2018 in accordance with the top court's direction. Names of 1.9 crore people out of the 3.29 crore applicants were incorporated then.

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.