‘Be brave, keep law in mind’: SC says NRC must come by July 31

india

Updated: May 08, 2019 13:29 IST

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reiterated that the Assam government had time only till July 31 to publish the National Register of Citizens (NRC). During the course of the hearing today, the Supreme Court said that the state coordinator can continue with his work on the NRC.

The court also gave the state coordinator the liberty “to mention the matter before Registrar (Judicial) during summer vacation in case urgent hearing is required”.

During the minute-long hearing, the NRC coordinator told the court that most of those who had objected against the non-inclusion of their names in the first draft aren’t appearing to contest.

Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi asked the coordinator to “be brave and keep the law in mind” while reiterating that the final NRC must come by July 31.

Both the Assam government and the Centre have been at the receiving end of the Supreme Court’s ire over delays in publishing of the NRC as well as identification and deportation of foreigners from the state.

The draft National Register of Citizens for Assam was published on July 30, 2018 in which the names of 2.89 crore of the 3.29 crore people were included. The names of 40,70,707 people did not figure in the list.