Daijiworld Media Network - Assam (SHP)

Assam, Jul 19: In the list prepared by National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam to single out the illegal immigrants, several discrepancies were found, following which the Centre asked Supreme Court for an extension so as to present a more credible list. Representing the central government, solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued stating, “India cannot be world's refugee capital.” The Centre and Assam government requested for an extension for submitting the list from the earlier decided date of Jul 31.

"Please extend the deadline for publication of final Assam NRC from July 31 to a future date. There is a growing perception that many exclusions and many more inclusions have been made wrongly," the solicitor general said. The court said it will decide on the applications of both the governments on July 23.

Local officers were involved in the inclusion of several people bordering the areas of Bangladesh. Further, a random verification of over 20 per cent of people included in the NRC was being considered. It was possible that along with Indian citizens, illegal Bangladeshi citizens were also included in the list.

The first draft of the National Register of Citizens for Assam was published on the intervening night of December 31, 2017 and January 1, 2018 under the directives of the top court. Assam has always faced an influx of people from Bangladesh since early 20th century and is the only state with an NRC, formulated for the first time back in 1950.

The NRC is required to be updated at specific times, but over time has attracted growing concerns from rights groups when over 40 lac people ended up getting excluded. An individual who has been excluded from the NRC list can approach any such tribunal with a valid copy of the rejection order received from the NRC authorities and state their grounds for appeal.