NRC exercise gets emboriled into controversy; serious anomalies come to fore

The NRC update process in Assam today got embroiled in a major controversy. A petitioner on the issue claimed that after a Supreme Court hearing, state NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela

The NRC update process in Assam today got embroiled in a major controversy.

A petitioner on the issue claimed that after a Supreme Court hearing, state NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela has established that legacy data or family tree that are critical for establishing an individual’s have been bought and sold in course of the mega enumeration exercise.

The Supreme Court also ordered re-verification of 10 per cent of people whose names have already appeared in the final draft NRC.

Abhijit Sarma President of the Assam Public Works claimed that state NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela in course of the hearing on the NRC process at the SC today established that legacy data had been traded with during the mega NRC exercise.

Sarma, who had placed suggestions on behalf of his organization on standard operating procedure for claims and objections as asked by the court, added that in course of the NRC exercise people have used legacy data that do not belong to them raising serious concerns.

In another significant development, the apex court ordered a sample re-verification of 10 percent of NRC data, district-wise, by independent teams to satisfy itself that no error has crept into draft NRC.

The re-verification will be conducted in every districts of Assam and will roughly cover 28 lakh people or 10 per cent of those whose names already figure in draft NRC.

The apex court has also sought a report from the NRC state coordinator about why those claiming inclusion be allowed to give fresh documents that could change their earlier claimed family tree.

Meanwhile, the apex court also deferred the date for receipt of of claims, objection and correction forms of NRC.

Hearing the NRC update issue, the apex court directed the NRC authorities to accept claims and objections forms from September 7 instead of August 30.

The two-judge bench comprising justice Ranjan Gogoi and Fali Nariman while hearing the case fixed September 5 as the next date of hearing.

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