Lakhs of illegal immigrants included in Assam NRC: SG Tushar Mehta tells SC

With less than two weeks to go for the publication of the final NRC on July 31, Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta in a startling disclosure before the Supreme Court has said names of many non-Indian citizens have been included in the draft NRC particularly those living in the bordering areas of Assam.

Appearing for the Centre and the Assam government, Mehta, said, “There is a growing perception that lakhs of illegal immigrants have been included in the NRC list in alleged collusion with local NRC officials in Assam.”

In a hearing at the apex court over the ongoing process of updating the citizens register, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta also said that India cannot be a home to refugees from the entire globe.

Meanwhile, quoting two reports filed by NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela, Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi said that the question of further re-verification does not arise, since re-verification of 80 lakh people has already been completed.

However, the NRC coordinator informed the top court that an additional time frame of one month would be required to publish an error-free NRC.

The apex court has said the entire exercise should be completed by the July 31 deadline. However, the final hearing will take place on July 23.