The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses from the Union government, the Assam state administration, and the office of the NRC state coordinator regarding a petition demanding the immediate start of the appeal process for over 1.9 million people excluded from the final National Register of Citizens in Assam.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice Vipul M Pancholi issued notices on the plea filed by the Assam State Jamiat Ulama. The court ordered the new petition to be tagged alongside an existing, related matter already pending before the top court.
Demands for Appeals and Identity Cards
During the hearing, counsel representing the petitioner pointed out that individuals excluded from the final list were suffering because the administrative process for filing appeals had not yet begun, despite existing statutory provisions for such relief.
In addition to seeking an active appeal mechanism for excluded applicants, the petition urged the court to direct authorities to issue official national identity cards to all individuals successfully included in the registry. The plea specified that these identity documents should be issued under Section 14A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, read in conjunction with Rule 13 of the 2003 Rules.
Registry Figures and Background
The updated final National Register of Citizens was published on August 31, 2019, to validate bona fide Indian citizens living in Assam.
According to official figures from the NRC State Coordinator’s office, a total of 33,027,661 people applied for inclusion in the registry. Of those applicants, 31,121,004 were verified and included in the document, while 1,906,657 people were left out.
