COVID pandemic hampers issuance of vital rejection order to those excluded from NRC

NRC State Coordinator Hitesh Sarma said that COVID-19 pandemic has affected the process for issuing rejection order to every person excluded from the NRC in Assam as the government officials and employees at the ground level are engaged in work related to the pandemic so they could not recheck the speaking order which describes the exact reason for exclusion.

Guwahati:COVID-19 pandemic has affected the process for issuing rejection order to every person excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam even after the final document of citizens was published a year ago, the top NRC official said on Tuesday.

NRC State Coordinator Hitesh Sarma said that government officials and employees at the ground level are engaged in work related to the pandemic so they could not recheck the speaking order which describes the exact reason for exclusion.

"The process for issuing rejection orders was intended to be started from today, but now it has to wait for the pandemic to subside", Sarma said.

Stating a rejection order has to be issued to each excluded person, he said, the order needs to have another order - speaking order - attached explaining the exact reason for exclusion from the final NRC.

The rejection orders are crucial for the concerned rejected people. They will be able to appeal to the Foreigners Tribunals (FTs) within 120 days only after receiving the
rejection orders.

When he scrutinised many of the speaking orders, Sarma said, discrepancies were noticed with many not written in the proper way and so he ordered a recheck.
The final NRC was published on August 31 last year by excluding 19,06,657 persons. A total of 3,11,21,004 names were included out of 3,30,27,661 applicants.
The process for updating the NRC in Assam was conducted under the supervision of the Supreme Court from 2013.

The NRC state coordinator also informed that on Monday he held a video conference meeting with the district Deputy Commissioners (DCs) giving them a detailed briefing on how to recheck the speaking orders.

On being pointed out about those excluded from the NRC were facing varied problems and are in tension with regard to their status as a citizen of the country, the state NRC coordinator said when the rejection orders are issued those disagreeing with the exclusion can challenge it in courts.

Some of those excluded from the register said they were tensed as despite presenting requisite documents with the legacy data to establish their Indian citizenship, they were left out from the NRC.

To ease the concerns of those excluded from NRC, the Union Home and External Affairs ministries after the publication of NRC had stated that exclusion does not make a resident a "foreigner" and that only Foreigners Tribunals and higher courts can decide on their Indian citizenship.

Abu Latif Barbhuiya of Karimganj district who hopes to go for Haj pilgrimage after the COVID-19 pandemic ebbs said that he failed to get a passport as the local police is not issuing verification certificate after exclusion of his name from the NRC, whereas his family members are in.

Another such person, Rinku Das, of Goalpara district is facing a lot of problem in buying a plot of land in his village as he cannot get it registered in his name as he is
not in the NRC.

Not only him, but his brother, sister, son and nephew's names are also excluded from the register when they had submitted their father's land deed of 1951.

Bidhan Dey of Dhubri district said getting a groom for his daughter was becoming a cause of worry as marriage proposals were not coming in as her name was excluded from NRC despite names of all other family members were included.

Romila Bodo, belonging to the indigenous ethnic Bodo community in Kokrajhar district aspires to join the state civil service but is afraid that she will be rejected in
police verification stage after they do not find her name in the NRC.

Meanwhile, the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and the Assam Public Works (APW) on Monday urged the Supreme Court for the re-examination of the NRC published on that day last year.

The final NRC has turned out to be a document reflecting the failure of both the state and the central government and the students' organisation had appealed to the highest court for a "re-examination but we are still waiting for the apex court's directive in this regard", AASU President Dipanka Nath and General Secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi said in a statement.

The students' body had not rejected the final NRC, but "we were not satisfied with the results and there were flaws in the final document as it was not prepared according to the directives given by the Supreme Court", the AASU leaders said.

As soon as the final NRC was published, the BJP government went on to violate the provisions of the Assam Accord by imposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) - "a conspiracy to sabotage the NRC", Nath and Gogoi alleged.

The Assam Public Works (APW), a primary petitioner for the NRC in the Supreme Court, also claimed that the NRC has become an "absolute zero" due to the "conspiracy of the vested interests".

"The NRC in its current form cannot send back a single foreigner but will only lead to making foreigners Indian citizens. In one word, the NRC has boomeranged on the people of Assam", APW President Aabhijeet Sarma told reporters here.

(PTI REPORT)