NEW DELHI: Giving a major relief to people in Assam whose names have been left out of the final draft of the National Register of Citizens, the Supreme Court on Thursday said the last date for filing their claims and objections would now be December 15. Earlier the date was November 25.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Rohinton F Nariman clarified in the order that after December 15, notices to claimants would be issued until January 15, 2019, and then verification of their claims would begin on April 1, 2019.
The court allowed the claimants to use five more documents to prove their legacy. They are the NRC, 1951; names in the electoral roll up to March 24, 1971; a citizenship certificate; a refugee registration certificate; certified copies of pre-1971 electoral roll, particularly, those issued in the state of Tripura; and a ration card. Any of these documents can be used by the claimants to prove their Indian legacy in the ongoing claims and objections process.
The five documents are part of the 15 listed by the Centre in it s draft Standard Operating Procedure for the claims and objections of over 40 lakh people excluded from the draft NRC published on July 30.
The bench disagreed with State NRC Co-ordinator Prateek Hajela's conclusion that these five documents could be easily forged, and thus should not be permitted for use by claimants to prove their Indian citizenship.