Decide claims for inclusion in NRC properly, SC tells coordinator
The draft NRC, which was published on July 30 last year, contained names of 2.89 crore people but excluded 40.07 lakh people. Those excluded from the draft NRC were permitted to file claims for inclusion of their names. People were also allowed to file objections to inclusion of names in the NRC.
Taking up the matter on amicus curiae Gourab Banerjee’s request, a vacation bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Aniruddha Bose told Hajela, “There are disturbing reports in media, which may not be correct. But your job is to hold hearing on claims and objections properly. There is a July 31 deadline but that does not mean your officers will cut short the procedure. As the state coordinator, you ensure that your officials are fair in deciding the claims. Your report that 70-80% claims are disposed of is no good if it is not done properly.”
But Banerjee’s anxiety was on a different point. He said the July 31 deadline was just a month away and there was no clarity about setting up of additional foreigners tribunals. “A problem will arise if large a number of people are excluded from the NRC and they move tribunals. The number of tribunals needs to be increased urgently,” he said.
When the CJI asked the Assam government about the steps taken to set up 1,000 more tribunals, solicitor general Tushar Mehta said the state government and Gauhati High Court have agreed to recruit retired bureaucrats not below the rank of joint secretary with quasi-judicial work experience along with retired judges and experienced lawyers to become members of new tribunals, 200 of which would be set up soon as part of the first tranche to deal with issues that would arise from exclusion of people from the final NRC.
The SC gave the green signal to recruit former bureaucrats with quasi-judicial work experience for tenure-based recruitment as members of tribunal and said “it is a never before kind of a situation” requiring urgent measures. When senior advocate Vijay Hansaria pointed out that the 200 new tribunals would require a support staff of 1,800, Mehta assured that this aspect was also being taken care by the state government in coordination with the HC.
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References
- ^ Assam (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
- ^ amicus curiae (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
- ^ Ranjan Gogoi (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
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