Assam: Uncertainty looms over re-verification

People check their names on the final list of the NRC at Buraburi village in Morigaon, Assam, on August 31, 2019. Pic/AFP

Two years have gone by since the final draft of NRC was published on this day in Assam, leaving out over 19 lakh applicants, all efforts to overhaul the list, amid cries that genuine names were excluded, have only hit the wall with demands for re-verification of the document still pending before the Supreme Court.

The National Register of Citizens (NRC), prepared in accordance with Assam Accord provisions, catalogued names of the "genuine citizens" of India. The ones, who did not find a place in the updated list, have since been running from pillar to post, trying to figure out how to get their names enlisted, as uncertainty looms over their future. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, when asked about the concerns over the draft, simply said "the matter is pending in the Supreme Court and I will not like to comment on it".

Several stakeholders claimed that the SC-monitored exercise carried out to update the list was a "faulty one", following which aggrieved individuals were told to approach foreigner tribunals set up for the purpose. But, the rejection slips required to approach the tribunals have not been issued yet. Also, the Registrar General of India is yet to publish the final draft.

State NRC Coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma had filed an interlocutory application in the SC in May this year, seeking a time-bound re-verification of the list as "there were major irregularities in the process". The Assam Public Works (APW), the original petitioner in the SC for NRC update, also raised a similar demand, holding the former state coordinator Prateek Hajela responsible for the "anomalies".

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