GUWAHATI: A Division Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India, Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Wednesday extended the last date for filing claims and objections regarding the inclusion of names in the National Register of Citizen (NRC) to December 31 in response to a petition filed by Assam Government.
Earlier, the apex court had fixed December 15 as the last date to submit claims and objections. The Legal Advisor to Assam Chief Minister, Santanu Bharali informed that the State Government had earlier filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking an extension of time frame for filing claims and objections for those applicants whose names were not included the final draft NRC. The Supreme Court in view of the petition extended the last date.
He also informed that the apex court had also allowed filing objections against wrongful inclusions in the draft NRC at the nodal offices of NRC located at district headquarters.
Moreover, the Supreme Court has also postponed the date for commencement of NRC verification process to February 15 from February 1, he said.
The NRC is being updated in Assam with March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date. The final draft of the NRC was published July 30, 2018 where names of over 40 lakh applicants could not be included on various reasons. These applicants are now supposed file claims and objections for inclusion of their names in the final updated NRC