DRAFT NRC LIST CAN’T BE BASIS OF ANY COERCIVE ACTION, SAYS SC

The Supreme Court Tuesday said the publication of the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam “cannot be the basis of any coercive action against anyone” since the list was merely a draft.

It also directed the Centre to formulate standard operating procedure (SOP) to deal with claims and objections.

A bench of justices Ranjan Gogoi and RF Nariman asked the Centre to place the SOP before the court for its approval by August 16, and said it should be fair with reasonable opportunity for people to contest exclusion.

The bench said a local registrar has to give notice to those who have filed claims and objections, and give them reasonable opportunity to be heard.

At the outset, Assam NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela placed before the court a status report with details of publication of the draft NRC on Monday.

To this the bench asked about the future course of action.

Hajela told the court that the claims and objections with regard to inclusion and exclusion in the NRC could be filed from August 30 to September 28.

He said until August 7, the draft NRC is being made available to the people to see whether their names are included or not.

Attorney General KK Venugopal , appearing for the Centre, said the ministry concerned is willing to formulate modalities of the SOP to deal with the process of claims and objections, and that courts should direct that no coercive action shall be taken until equal opportunity is given to all.

NEW DELHI: NEW DELHI:

The water quality in the Yamuna has improved significantly due to a rise in inflow of floodwaters, and the river is at its “healthiest” state this year yet, experts have said. The improvement is largely due to the increased oxygen content which cleanses the river and helps keep pollutants in check, they said. On Monday, the water level surpassed the danger mark of 204.83 metres, forcing evacuation of around 10,000 people from the low-lying areas, after around 5,13,554 cusecs was released by the Hathini Kund barrage. Experts also highlighted that the water quality improves every year during monsoon, when the river flow improves. Manoj Mishra, convener of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan, termed the improvement as a ‘temporary effect which would go with the monsoon season”. PTI