SC NO ON SHARING NRC REPORT WITH CENTRE

Defers date for receiving claims, chooses 10 documents for enrolment

The Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred till further orders the commencement of the process of receiving claims and objections for the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam and ordered that any one of the 10 of the 15 documents can be used by claimants to prove legacy.

A bench of justices Ranjan Gogoi and R F Nariman perused the report of Assam's NRC coordinator Pratik Hajela and said it was agreeable to his suggestions that any one of the 10 of a total 15 documents provided in List-A of the claim form can be used by the claimants to prove legacy.

The bench also expressed reservation over sharing with the Centre the copy of the NRC Coordinator's report on the modalities for receiving claims from those excluded in draft NRC, saying though the Government of India was "extremely interested", the court "has to strike a balance".

The top court deferred till further orders the commencement of the process of receiving claims and objections for the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, reports PTI.

Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for Centre, said a copy of the report should be given to them as "Government of India is extremely interested in it".

To this, the bench said "the Government of India may be interested but we need to balance it."

The top court chose 10 identity proof documents from a list of 15 to be accepted as a valid claim of people left out of the final draft of Assam's National Register of Citizens (NRC) and sought the views

The report said that all acceptable documents should be of the relevant period up to the midnight of March 24, 1971.

of the Centre and other stakeholders on the issue.

The ten legacy documents which are admissible include land documents like registered sale deed, permanent residential certificate issued from outside the State, passport and LIC insurance policy of the relevant period.

Other documents which can be relied upon include any license or certificate issued by any government authority of the relevant period, documents showing service or employment under government or public sector undertaking, Bank or Post Office accounts of relevant period, birth certificates issued by the competent authority, educational certificate and records or processes pertaining to courts, provided they are part of a processing in a Judicial or Revenue Court.

The report said that all these documents should be of the relevant period up to the midnight of March 24, 1971.

The bench posted the matter for further hearing on September 19.