The Ministry of Home Affairs in a letter to the coordinator of National Register of Citizens (NRC) Prateek Hajela stated that the ration card has to be treated as a valid supporting document for the purpose of NRC update.
The letter stated gaon panchayat certificates will not be considered valid until the apex court rules on it and ration cards do not falls under the same category. The ministry though has made it clear in the letter that careful scrutiny and thorough investigation is done before disposing applications based on ration cards in accordance with Citizenship Rules of 2003.
“While approving modalities dated March 13, 2015, the list of documents that were admissible, which were to be enclosed by each applicant was also approved. The list contained two supporting documents – ration cards and Gaon Panchayat certificates issued by the secretary of village panchayat. It is clarified that all documents as appearing on March 13, 2015, except gaon panchayat certificate, which is sub-judice, are valid documents,’ read the letter.
The Supreme Court will hear on November 22 whether gaon panchayat certificate be treated as valid or not.
It may be mentioned here that the Centre recently approached the Supreme Court seeking seven months more to publish the same from December 31, 2017 to July 31, 2018.