Orders; Judgement; White Paper; Now in Focus; Tenders; FAQS. Sarma also alleged that the then NRC State Coordinator Prateek Hajela had conducted the entire process incorrectly, even accusing him of looting public money. new Foreigners Tribunals, Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Card Rules) 2003. The Union government then issued the Foreigners (Tribunal) Amendment Order 2006, which changed certain provisions of the 1964 order of the same name and exempted Assam from the law. The BJP-led Assam government has now sought permission from the Supreme Court for 15 per cent sample re-verification of names included in the final NRC list. It also urged the apex court that agencies such as the CBI, NIA and ED be allowed to probe the alleged misappropriation of funds and irregularities in updating the citizens' register by former NRC state coordinator Prateek Hajela. The Court directed that the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for filing objections to the NRC list should be examined by stakeholders and petitioners in the current litigation. Ground report: Farmers, workers cry government's apathy in Bihar's Motipur, Covid-19 fatality rates have reduced in Delhi: Satyendra Jain, Copyright © 2020 Living Media India Limited. Prateek Hajela manipulated it in such a way that, we can say, the thief was made the police. The Court named eight stakeholders — Assam Public Works, Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha (an indigenous people’s organisation of Assam), National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Progressive), Indigenous Tribal Peoples Federation, All Assam Bhojpuri Parishad, Joint Action Committee for Bangali Refugees, All Assam Minorities Students’ Union (AAMSU) and Jamait Ulama-i-Hind – for the purpose. Section 3(1)(a) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, deals with the acquisition of citizenship by birth in the case of every person born in India on or after January 26, 1950, but before July 1, 1987. 2017-20 © Center for Law and Policy Research, Assam NRC: SC Order - Transfer of NRC Coordinator, Assam NRC: Order regarding consistency of NRC process with Section 3(1) of the Citizenship Act, Assam NRC: Order reg. Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma termed the NRC as “fundamentally wrong” and said they would start a new exercise after the 2021 Assembly polls if the Supreme Court allows.. The draft labeled 40,70,707 persons as illegal residents. In July 2019, the Assam government and the Centre moved the Supreme Court for a re-verification exercise but that was dismissed after Hajela submitted that … "The NRC was not used to find out the Mughals. Issued by the local panchayat, these certificates were used largely by poor married women in rural Assam who had few other documents to prove their relationship to a pre-1971 ancestor. Balasubramanyan, on July 12, 2005, declared as unconstitutional the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals Act), 1983, (IMDT Act) and its corresponding rules, which also dealt with illegal immigration in Assam. It has now pulled a curtain over the specifics of the process, which puts millions who could lose citizenship at the mercy of an opaque exercise. The court’s concerns about making public the contents of a document that could be used politically to ignite communal and ethnic tensions were seen as valid. In May 2014, the Supreme Court chided the Centre and the Assam government for “dragging its feet” on implementing court orders on beefing up border security. A vexed issue was whether to grant citizenship purely by birth, and not by descendance. This, it felt, gave “undue advantage” to undocumented migrants in Assam. The Foreigners Tribunal, being a quasi-judicial authority, would be in a better position to judge whether there was a prima facie case against a suspected foreigner to warrant issue of notice, it said. He is a former president of the All Assam Students Union, the largest non-political students’ organisation in the State, which was responsible for leading the student movement in Assam on the issue of immigrants in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The judgment went on to resurrect an infamous quote by CS Mullan. The distinct IDs will contain biometric information. But will we? Legal Provisions for citizenship in Assam. IN the public discourse on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, the Supreme Court’s role is crucial. In 1985 the Assam Accord was signed, which mandated a second NRC. A Division Bench comprising CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Rohinton Nariman closely monitored the process, to ensure that the Government was complying with the Citizenship Act 1955 and Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Card Rules) 2003. Anecdotal evidence suggests many of the 40.07 lakh people left out of the NRC draft published in July 2018 had relied on the certificates. In Sarbananda Sonowal, the Supreme Court invoked Article 355 of the Constitution to strike down the IMDT Act that would have placed the burden upon the state in a foreigner’s case. The petition filed by the social activist Harsh Mander, for instance, sought creation of humane conditions in detention centres. The court’s rationale for doing so was that it would be difficult for the state to give an exact date of entry of a foreign national who had surreptitiously crossed the Indian border and that the court could not remain a mute spectator to the continuing influx of illegal migrants. It then continued to monitor the State as it updated the draft NRC, taking into account objections. Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. But it also raises another vital question. The court struck down the amendment as well. If the Constitution Bench declares these two provisions of the Act unconstitutional, the NRC list, which was prepared on the assumption that these are constitutional, would become untenable or at least be subject to changes by aggrieved citizens. Written by Abhishek Saha | Guwahati | November 6, 2020 6:48:13 am. Nothing much moved between 2009 and 2013. For reprint rights: Syndications Today, [REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE] File photo of Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma (Photo Credits: PTI), Yogi-Nitish at loggerheads over NRC issue in Bihar ahead of 3rd phase polling, Assam government deports 42 Bangladeshi nationals, Assam to send NRC rejection slips to 19 lakh people from March 20. 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The question whether the court played it in consonance with its constitutional mandate or exacerbated the fears and insecurities that the NRC process generated has to be answered with due regard to facts. “The invasion of a vast horde of land-hungry immigrants mostly Muslims” would obliterate Assamese culture and civilization, Mullan had written. The Assam Public Works (APW), the original petitioner in the Supreme Court which led to the update of the National Register of Citizens six years ago, said the final NRC turned out to be a 'flawed document' because its prayer for re-verification of the draft list was rejected by the apex court. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a register containing names of all genuine Indian citizens. But as the government stalled, the court got involved once again. It matters not in what form such aggression and encroachment come, whether from the foreign nation acting in its national character or from vast hordes of its people crowding in upon us.”. The print medium all over the world is no exception. The Centre’s explanation that for deportation the host country’s cooperation was required was not convincing enough to the bench. In Dhubri-Barpeta, they (Mughals) had prepared the NRC itself. If this was not possible, the concerned officer was to appear in court to explain why. But it did say that the rules “contemplated a less strict and vigorous process” for such individuals. Assam is the only Indian State that has a NRC, a register that contains the list of all Indian citizens in Assam bearing their name, address and photograph. The new NRC takes its definition of citizenship from the accord: to be included in the register, applicants have to prove that they or their ancestors entered the country before midnight on March 24, 1971, the eve of the Bangladesh War.