File photo of people waiting to check their names on the final draft of Assam's NRC after it was released on M... Read More

NEW DELHI: There will be no change for now in the status of Assam residents who do not figure in the final draft of National Register of Citizens ( NRC ), be it in terms of citizenship, voting rights or entitlement to government schemes and benefits, senior home ministry officials said on Monday.

Those who don't find their names in the list can file claims and objections starting August 28 and even if these are rejected they can approach the foreigners' tribunals, followed by appeal in the higher courts.

The home ministry on Monday said no coercive action will be taken based on draft NRC, saying legal remedies are available. "What is published is only a draft and will undergo revision as claims and objections are filed and processed...A person can be declared 'foreigner' only by the Foreigners' Tribunal. Until then, nobody will be sent to a detention centre or face any coercive action," said a home ministry officer.

The officer said the social profile of those left out of final NRC draft establishes the exercise is not targetted against a particular community, as alleged by some political parties, but was a 'secular' exercise.

The nearly 40 lakh persons left out of draft NRC now have a month to put together their claims and objections along with documentary proof. Claims and objections can be filed from August 30, 2018, to September 28, 2018. Rules provide for an extension by a month. A home ministry notification on Monday said enumeration in connection with NRC updation would be completed by December 31. However, given the number of claims, this deadline may need to be extended.

A home ministry functionary said rules pertaining to NRC updation were amended only recently to ensure that those left out did not have to face any hardship. "To give the people of Assam sufficient time to gather documentary proof in support of their claims and objections, the government decided to amend the rules to enable people to start filing claims/objections a month after publication of draft NRC," said the officer.

The officer denied West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee 's allegation that communications in Assam were snapped in wake of release of final NRC draft, saying that the chief secretary and DGP had confirmed to the home secretary that the telecom and internet services in the state were fully functional. "In fact, most people of Assam checked their NRC status via SMS," said the officer.

The officer said the entire NRC updation exercise was driven and monitored by the Supreme Court . "The SC direction has to be complied with," he said.

