SC declines deadline extension for NRC in Assam

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to extend the deadline for the publication of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, directing the Centre to do the needful by May 31.

The bench comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi and RF Nariman suggested that it would monitor the matter and said the verification of the more than one crore people in the state must continue without any interference.

When Attorney General KK Venugopal implored that it would be physically impossible to complete the work by May, the bench quipped that it was their business to make the impossible possible.

"Our business is to make impossible possible," the bench said. "Mr Attorney General, what everybody thought was a big joke, has been turned into a reality. Our business is to make impossible possible and we will do it. We are monitoring it for the last four years and we know this," the bench added.

The court also clarified that the State Election Commission and Assam would conduct the coming panchayat and local body elections that are scheduled in March and April. "The work of holding panchayat and local body elections in Assam will not be at the cost of upgrading and preparation of the NRC and the NRC work will continue as before with full deployment," the bench said.

The Bench also declined the request to appoint an additional State coordinator to help with the NRC work. The Court said that incumbent coordinator Prateek Hajela would continue to carry out his duties till it reached its logical conclusion.

In November 2017, the top court had dismissed a request for an extension, and directed state coordinator Prateek Hajela to deploy additional manpower to complete scrutiny of the remaining 38 lakh names in order to meet the December 31, 2017 deadline.

Upon its publication, the NRC caused concerns in some sections of the society since several thousand names were missing from the list. The State had then assured citizens that this was simply the first list, and that another list was yet to be published.

The NRC is prepared to identify illegal migrants in the State.

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Bench comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi & RF Nariman suggested that it would monitor the matter and said the verification of more than 1 cr people must continue without any interference