The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre and Assam government to submit reply on the petitions over the timeline to file appeal for citizenship “once the individual’s name is not included in the final NRC”.
A two-member bench of the apex court comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Dipak Gupta gave four weeks’ time to both Centre and state to file their response.
The apex court was hearing two writ petitions filled by the All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) and Maulana Sayed Arsad Madani’s Jamiat over the timeline by which a person, whose name is not included in the final NRC, can file his or her appeal.
Also read: Assam: Final NRC taking shape; additional draft exclusion list published
Appearing for the petitioners, senior lawyer Kapil Sibbal argued that if a person does not get a certified copy within 60 days then he or she can’t file an appeal and moreover, he or she can be arrested.
“We have filed the petitions to get the clarity on the date of claiming citizenship,” said AAMSU leader Azizur Rahman.
“We wanted to know whether it should be 60 days from the date of publication of the final NRC or it should be from the date when the person gets the certified copy of the order mentioning why his or her name was cut down from the NRC list,” added Rahman.