Govt seeks SC’s permission to re-verify draft NRC list

In a fresh twist to the NRC updation issue, the government has moved the Supreme Court for permission to undertake a re-verification of a certain percentage of names from the final draft list published on December 31, 2018.

Informed sources told Northeast Live that the government has filed an affidavit before the apex court proposing a 20 percent re-verification of names of people who are inhabitants of areas along the Bangladesh border & 10 percent names of people from other districts of Assam.

According to sources, the move came after an organisation called the Hochetan Nagarik Mancha submitted a memorandum signed by over 25 lakh people to President Ram Nath Kovind seeking re-verification of 20 percent of names from minority dominated border areas and 10 percent from rest of Assam.

The President in turn forwarded the memo to the MHA following which the government filed an affidavit with the memo attached for consideration by the Apex Court.

If the Supreme Court permits the government to undertake the re-verification process, the final NRC obviously cannot be published on July 31, the deadline set by the Apex Court.

Therefore the government on its own is also understood to have requested for an extension of the NRC publication date. Meanwhile, organisations like the All Assam Students Union (AASU) have slammed the government’s move seeking re-verification of names.