From Our Special Correspondent
GUWAHATI: The All Assam Minority Students Union (AAMSU) has urged the Union home ministry to ensure that no genuine Indian citizen is left out from the National Register of Citizens scheduled to be published in Assam on July 31, 2019.
The union through a memorandum to the secretary, Union home ministry, said if necessary and in the event of doubts, even DNA tests could be conducted to determine parental linkage.
Alleging discrepancies in the ongoing claims and objections process of NRC, the union urged the Centre to direct the NRC authority to take corrective measures before the final NRC is published.
Among the measures, AAMSU demanded that the grounds of objection should be furnished along with notice according to Clause 5 of the standard operating procedures approved by the Supreme Court on November 1, 2018.
“In the event of the objectors remaining absent in the hearing, such objections should be rejected ex-parte at the threshold. Besides, objections should also be rejected wherein details as per protocol are not furnished by objectors,” the memorandum to the Union home secretary, read.
Urging authorities to strictly follow the principle of natural justice during the course of disposal of claims and objections, the union sought names and addresses of objectors in the notice for hearing as well as to the person against whom such objection is made during the course of hearing.
The union further demanded that hearing venues should be set up within reasonable distances in the same localities of the persons called for disposal of claims and objections.
“The List-B/Linkage Documents issued after August 31, 2015 should be accepted during the course of disposal of claims and objections in compliance with apex court’s order dated December 12, 2018,” it added.
Several members of the union also staged a protest demonstration at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Tuesday, demanding publication of an error-free NRC.
The National Register of Citizens (NRC) aims to separate “genuine” citizens from “illegal immigrants”.
The complete draft of the register, published in July, 2018, had excluded 40.07 lakh names out of the 3.29 crore applicants.
A window ending December 31, 2018, was provided for those who wanted to file claims for re-inclusion.
Within this same period, people who suspected that foreigners have made their way to the list were also allowed to file their objections.
Assuring the people of all possible help during the claims and objection verification process, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had said early this week, “The entire NRC process is monitored and supervised by Supreme Court in a very transparent manner and the state government is extending full support to ensure that no genuine Indian citizen is left out of the final NRC.” (With inputs from PTI)