No coercive action against those left out of list, says SC

The opposition asks the government to tread cautiously and not play politics on the issue

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the publication of the complete draft NRC of Assam could not be the basis of any coercive action against anyone since it is merely a draft.

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

The apex court directed the Centre to place the SOP before it for approval and said it should be fair and giving reasonable opportunity to contest exclusion.

A bench of justices Ranjan Gogoi and R F Nariman said the Centre should place the SOP before it by August 16 and that a local registrar has to give notice to those who have filed claims and objections, and give them reasonable opportunity for hearing.

At the outset, Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) coordinator Prateek Hajela placed before the court its status report giving details of publication of the draft NRC on Monday.

To this, the bench asked what the future course of action was.

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

He said till August 7; the draft NRC is being made available to the people to see whether their names are there or not.

The Centre on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it is contemplating taking biometrics details of over 40 lakh people, whose names did not figure in the final NRC draft in Assam, to avoid their influx to other states on false identity. attorney General K K 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 till equal opportunity is given to all.

The bench asked Venugopal to place the SOP before it for approval.

The second and final draft of the NRC, which is a list of the state’s citizens, was published on Monday with over 2.89 crore names out of 3.29 crore applicants in Assam. Names of around 40.07 lakh applicants did not figure in the document.

The first draft of the NRC for Assam was published in December end as per the top court’s direction. It was published on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1 where names of 1.9 crore people out of the 3.29 crore applicants were incorporated.

Assam, which had faced an influx of people from Bangladesh since the early 20th century, is the only state having an NRC, which was first prepared in 1951.

The top court had earlier said that the claims of those citizens, whose names do not figure in the draft NRC for Assam published by December 31 last year, would be scrutinised and included in the following list if found genuine.

NEW DELHI: With BJP chief Amit Shah accusing the Congress of not showing courage to identify illegal migrants in Assam, the opposition on Tuesday asked the government to tread cautiously and not play politics on the issue of NRC.

While the Congress asked the government to adopt a humanitarian approach and not leave out any Indian from the Assam's National Register of Citizens (NRC), TMC demanded its complete withdrawal claiming that Indians were left out of it.

As the Rajya Sabha debated the NRC issue after Congress and TMC members created an uproar, Shah countered them by asking whether the Congress wanted to save he “illegal Bangladeshis”.

Participating in a discussion which was taken up by doing away with the Question Hour, Shah said the NRC was an exercise which was to be conducted as part of the Assam Accord signed by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhion August 14, 1985 after the movement in the state went out of control leading to death of some protesters.

Noting that the NRC was the spirit of the accord which sought to identify illegal migrants and prepare a list of Indian citizens, he said the exercise was now being conducted under the supervision of the Supreme Court.

“NRC is being conducted on the SC order. There are 40 lakh people (missing in the list) ... Whom do you want to save? You want to save illegal Bangaldesis,” he posed.

He said “this was the Congress PM'S initiative. He (Rajiv Gandhi) did not have the courage. We have courage and we are doing it.”

Shah's remarks provoked noisy protests by the Opposition members led by those from the Congress and the TMC. The House was first adjourned by Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu for about 10 minutes during the debate and then for the day.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh was present in the House but could not reply due to the noisy protests.

Earlier, Naidu, while allowing the Question Hour to be dispensed with today, termed NRC as a “serious and sensitive” matter.

Initiating the debate, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said it was a humanitarian issue and not a matter of any particular caste, religion or region.

“We don't want any person to be driven out of the country. This is not only about 40 lakh people, if you consider their children, families, it comes to 1-1.5 crore people,” Azad said, adding the issue may have international ramifications, especially on India's close friend Bangladesh.

He observed that the onus of proving identity as a citizen of India should lie upon not just an individual but the government as well.

Azad said the government should make legal provisions for the affected persons and there should be no harassment.

The Leader of Opposition further said even if one document is there out of the 16 documents required to prove identity, it should suffice, adding that no political party should make it a political or vote issue. Ram Gopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party claimed that the persons not included in the NRC include those of Hindus as well as Muslims, and even those from states like Bihar and UP.

He said there is a need to exercise a lot of caution on the issue as if the name of an Indian citizen in Assam is not included in the NRC, where will the person go.

Sukhendu Sekhar Roy (TMC) said his party chief Mamata Banerjee has said it should be withdrawn and the legal citizens of India should not be thrown out.

He said that 40 lakh people have been rendered “nationless which is unique in the history of the world.” He claimed that Indian citizens as well as governnent officials have been left out of the draft NRC list.

Roy said a misconception was being spread among the people that the exercise was being conducted in accordance with the Supreme Court's directive and asserted that the right of the people to reside in any state as per the Constitution is being violated.

BJD'S Prasanna Acharya said no one should read politics on the issue because it is very sensitive. He urged Home Minister Rajnath Singh to provide an assurance that all irregularities in the NRC will be taken care of. “In the heat of the argument, let us not forget that this is an issue where national security is involved, humanitarian angle is also involved,” Acharya said.

Y S Chowdary (TDP) claimed that proper procedure was not followed in the exercise of compiling the NRC and as a result, 40 lakh people have been declared refugees.

CPI(M)'S T K Rangarajan alleged that it was an illegal report and does not take into account several people from other parts of India who moved to Assam earlier.

Manoj Kumar Jha (RJD) said it cannot solely be a “heartless bureaucratic exercise” but should have a humanitarian approach, while Veer Singh of the BSP said an informed decision should be taken in this regard.

Majeed Memon (NCP) said it was not an issue of people from one religion alone, but the constitutional values with regard to the rights of an Indian citizen are involved.

He said India will become the “laughing stock of the world if the people living in Assam since 50 years were dumped somewhere else.

Biswajit Daimary (BPF), who belongs to Assam, said the names were not included in the NRC list due to lack of documentary proof. Such people have been given time to submit the documents.

“There won't be any action taken on over 40 lakh people (whose names are in the NRC list). They can submit the documents and proof. There should not be any confusion on this,” he said. Swapan Dasgupta (Nom) said “my only appeal is that let there be a rigorous and fair scrutiny. Let us not be in denial that there is a real problem in Assam.”

“This NRC did not come out of thin air. It was preceded by a sustained agitation in which 100s of people lost lives and in which there was huge emotional outpouring in Assam and in other parts of north east,” he said.

“There is a perception which is not quantified that there is a large foreigner population living in Assam. We can only deny this at our own peril,” he said.

Jose K Mani (KCM) said the Assam issue is a national issue, besides being a constitutional and humanitarian issue.

The stakeholders have not been consulted and the government should have a road map to address the problem.

D Raja (CPI) said the issue has become sensitive and has the potential to disturb relations with neighbouring countries and even harmony among the states. He also said the government should take Parliament and political parties into confidence while dealing with such issues.

V Vijaysai Reddy (YSRCP) said Indian citizens who are not in the list should be restored without harassment, while Sanjay Singh (AAP) said “We should not give religious colour. We should look from humanitarian point of view.”

Tiruchi Siva (DMK) suggested that the government to tackle the issue in an amicable way, while Dharmapuri Srinivas (TRS) said that the government should reconsider and revaluate the list. Sukhdev Singh Dhinsa (SAD) also spoke about minorities.

Later, the sources said the Chairman discussed the issue with Leader of Opposition Azad and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs during the adjournment.

Naidu conveyed his unhappiness over the way a good discussion on NRC in Assam was derailed towards the end.

The Chairman, the sources said, told Azad that for the first time he had suspended Question Hour on the demand of all sections of the House to discuss the issue but the purpose was defeated by the disruptions.