From Our Special Correspondent
GUWAHATI: The state coordinator of National Register of Citizens has directed the deputy commissioners and district registrars of citizen registration to redeploy the staff who were assigned election duties in work regarding preparation of the NRC.
According to an order of Supreme Court, dated April 10, 2019, all NRC staff assigned in duty for the parliamentary elections are to be redeployed exclusively for NRC work after completion of the polls and subjected to the administrative control of the Registrar General of India (RGI) and the state coordinator, NRC.
The three-phase Lok Sabha polls in Assam concluded on April 23, 2019.
The Supreme Court is monitoring the NRC update work and has fixed July 31, 2019 as the deadline for publication of the final NRC.
NRC state coordinator Prateek Hajela, through a letter, directed the district authorities of the state to ensure that topmost priority was accorded to NRC work and that officials engaged in poll duty were deployed for NRC work according to requirement.
“In view of the order, you are requested to ensure that officials deployed for NRC work perform their work exclusively and are not burdened with other duties. It is essential that focus of the entire field machinery is brought to NRC work to ensure publication of final NRC within July 31, 2019, as per order of Supreme Court,” Hajela stated in the letter to the district authorities.
He stated that the focus of the NRC staff should be on ensuring maintenance of error-free quality in all work.
The state coordinator warned officers of disciplinary action against any violations in regard to NRC work. “Exemplary disciplinary action will be initiated against any officer of any rank found to be violating or ignoring or not giving adequate attention to any NRC duty or instruction issued regarding work from the office of RGI or NRC state coordinator,” Hajela stated.
He further requested the district authorities to ensure that the timelines stipulated by the apex court regarding publication of an additional draft exclusion list under Clause 5 (Schedule of Citizenship Rules 2003), are strictly adhered to, and as such, disposal of cases requiring verification under Clause 4 (3) needed to be started immediately.