NO COERCIVE ACTION, SAYS SUPREME COURT
Biometrics might be taken of people excluded from list
A day after the release of the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Centre not to take any coercive action against those whose names are not on the list.
The court directed the Centre to frame a standard operating procedure to deal with claims and objections regarding Assam’s NRC.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said there will be no coercive action by authorities against over 40 lakh people, whose names do not figure in Assam’s National Register of Citizens, observing that it was merely a draft.
The top court asked the Centre to formulate modalities and the Standard Operating Procedures including timelines for deciding claims and objections arising out of the publication of the draft NRC.
A bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and R.F. Nariman asked the Centre to submit the modalities and SOPs before it for approval within August 16.
“This court would like to observe that what has been published is only a complete draft NRC, which naturally being a draft cannot be a basis for any coercive action by any authority,” the bench said.
It said that the modalities and SOPs prepared by ministry concerned of government of India should be “fair and giving reasonable opportunity to everyone”.
The bench said under the rules, the local registrar is first required to issue notice to file claim and objections to the draft NRC and then give a reasonable hearing.
The Centre also told the court that it is contemplating taking biometrics details of the 40 lakh people, whose names did not figure in the final NRC draft, to avoid their influx to other states.