Prateek Hajela, NRC Assam Coordinator, To Be Transferred To Madhya Pradesh: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court ordered inter-cadre transfer of NRC Assam coordinator Prateek Hajela to Madhya Pradesh on Friday. Competent authority has been asked to issue the order to this effect immediately, the top court said. Hajela was instrumental in carrying out orders of Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi in the preparation of draft and final NRC for Assam. The top court has asked the Centre to notify Hajela’s transfer within seven days. To a query from Attorney General KK Venigopal if there was a reason for the transfer, the CJI replied: “Can there be any order without a reason” but didn’t specify reasons.

The 1995-batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre was appointed the NRC coordinator by the Supreme Court. Hajela, who hails from Madhya Pradesh, had his share of bouquets and brickbats while he led a team of 52,000 officials that sifted through over six crore documents of 3.3 crore applicants, in one of the most complex exercises to validate the Indian citizenship of the residents of Assam. Interestingly, the names of Hajela and his daughter were missing from the first NRC draft published on December 31, 2017. The two had then appeared for a hearing after which their names figured in the final draft.

The Final NRC List with names of all 3.30 crore applicants in Assam was published online last month. The individuals can check their status on the official site https://www.nrcassam.nic.in. The final list was published at 10 am on August 31st and the hard copies of the Supplementary List of Inclusions are available for public viewing at the NRC Seva Kendras (NSK), offices of the deputy commissioner and offices of the Circle Officer during office hours, the statement said.

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The Supreme Court-monitored NRC update exercise published first draft in July last year. It should be noted that the final list, which was published today, can be termed as the supplementary list of the draft published in July last year. The 2019 list contains the exact status of the people left out in the 2018 draft.