Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said that the Government is committed to complete the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process within the stipulated time and ensure that neither any Indian national’s name is excluded nor any foreigner’s name included in the Final NRC.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court had severely reprimanded the Centre and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) over the delay in the completion of the NRC.
The top court had pulled up the Central Government over the pace at which the NRC process is being carried out and observed that it (Central Government) is “hell-bent on not allowing the work to continue.”
The SC had rapped the Ministry of Home Affairs for its plea seeking to stall the NRC work for two weeks in view of the role of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in the election duty.
The General Elections are likely to be held between April and May.
The SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, said the Centre is not cooperating in the NRC process while restating that the July 31 deadline for the completion of NRC exercise will not be extended. The bench also pulled up the MHA as it stated that “it seems the entire effort of the MHA is to destroy the NRC process.”
The Supreme Court had said on January 24 that the July 31, 2019, deadline to finalise the NRC for Assam cannot be extended and had asked the state government, the NRC co-ordinator, and the Election Commission to ensure that the upcoming general elections did not slow down the process.
Assam is the only state to have a National Register of Citizens, first prepared in 1951.
(With agency inputs)