The Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred the process of receiving claims and objections of the people whose names were left out in the final draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) published in Assam on July 30, 2018, until further orders.
The Apex Court Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Rohinton Nariman, which heard the case on Wednesday, fixed September 19, 2018 as the next date of hearing on the matter.
A report published in Bar & Bench the State coordinator of NRC, Assam, Pratik Hajela recommended on Wednesday that “out of the 15 documents enumerated in List A of the report, only 10 will be accepted as valid documents to prove and establish legacy”.
The Apex Court also reportedly accepted Hajela’s recommendations and extended the date of receipt of the claims and objection.
The report also quoted Supreme Court Justice Ranjan Gogoi as saying, “This should be sufficient for the Union of India and other stakeholders to form their views and thereafter orders will be passed.”
However, the top court sought a response from the Central Government and the stakeholders in this regard within two weeks.
The Centre Government, which was represented by the Attorney General KK Venugopal, reportedly informed the Apex Court that that the Government of India is interested in the full report.
Attorney General Venugopal sought for a copy of the record prepared by the State Coordinator of NRC, Assam, having details about the modalities regarding the claims for inclusion of names in the NRC. However, the SC declined the request of the Attorney General, the report said.
The report further quoted Justice Gogoi as saying, “The Government may be interested, Mr Attorney, but we have to balance things. This is all we can do at this point.”