The affidavit would not be confined to the district of Nalbari alone, but also of other districts, the court said.Recently NRC coordinator, Hitesh Dev Sarma had written to all the Deputy Commissioners and District Registrar of Citizen Registration (DRCR) directing them to weed out ineligible persons from the final NRC.“As per the reports received from your end through Webform, some names of ineligible persons belonging to the categories of DF (declared foreigners)/DV (‘D’ voters)/PFT (pending in Foreigners Tribunals) along with their descendants have found entry to the NRC,” he stated in the letter.District officials were directed to issue orders to delete such names from the NRC as per Clause 4(6) of the Schedule under the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003 after “specifically ascertaining the identity of the person”.The letter said, “You are, therefore, requested to submit the list of such persons who are not eligible for having their names in the NRC along with speaking order justifying reasons for each cases for necessary action for deletion of such names”.The final NRC list, published on August 31 last year, had found more than 31.1 million people eligible to be included in the registry while leaving out over 1.9 million people.
Gauhati HC asks co-ordinator to file affidavit on undeserving individuals in NRC
Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court has asked the co-ordinator of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to file a comprehensive affidavit and bring on record cases where individuals who are undeserving and not legally entitled to be included, are finding ways to be included in the NRC. The court ordered this after some declared foreigners claimed that they cannot be considered foreigners as their names have appeared in the NRC.The bench, which included Justice Manojit Bhuyan and Justice Soumitra Saikia, gave this order while hearing a case –– Rahima Begum @Rahima Khatun versus Union of India and five others –– in which AR Sikdar appeared for the petitioner while SC Keyal appeared for the Assam State Coordinator, NRC.Stating that an issue of great importance has been noticed in the present case, the court said: “It is not a solitary instance, inasmuch as, in a number of cases we have noticed and recorded similar issues appearing. In the present case and in our earlier orders we have recorded that the name of the petitioner appeared in the National Register of Citizens even when proceedings against her had been initiated and continued on the basis of reference made by the Superintendent of Police (Border), Nalbari. Such insertion of a name is against the law. The said proceeding also ended by declaring the petitioner as a foreigner of post 1971 stream. The present writ petition is basically a challenge to the said opinion dated 08.11.2019 of the Foreigners’ Tribunal No.3, Nalbari, in F.T.(Nal.)-3 Case No.523/2018.”The court asked Assam NRC counsel Keyal to file an affidavit so that a clear picture can be projected as to how the name of the petitioner got included in the NRC despite the fact that proceedings against her were continuing.Keyal was also asked to submit that if there are any similar instances, the same will be brought on record in the affidavit.“Let the Assam State Coordinator, NRC, file a comprehensive affidavit and bring on record the situations along with necessary particulars, whereby inroads into the National Register of Citizens may have been created by individuals who are undeserving and not legally entitled to be included in the National Register of Citizens,” the High Court ordered.
