Assam NRC: People with cases pending at Foreigners Tribunal will not make it to final list, says state coordinator Prateek Hajela

Guwahati: The people, who have cases pending against them in the Foreigners Tribunal, will not find a place in the final National Register of Citizens (NRC), but no genuine Indian citizens will be left out, NRC state coordinator Prateek Hajela said on Saturday. [caption id=“attachment_4413215” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of NRC Assam coordinator Prateek Hajela. Reuters[/caption] He said names of some “foreigners” have entered the NRC final draft published on 30 July as they concealed the fact that they had cases pending against them in the Foreigners Tribunal. Besides, many have tweaked their names, changed addresses and even changed their identities, he said. “The names of people whose cases are pending in the Foreigners Tribunal will have no place in the final list,” Hajela told PTI. The NRC in Assam is being prepared under the supervision of the Supreme Court and the completed draft was published on 30 July, in which the names of 2.89 crore residents have been included out of the 3.29 crore applicants. The names of 40 lakh applicants have been excluded from the final draft. On 2 August, an official had said the names of 200 suspected foreigners belonging to 39 families had made it to the NRC draft that was released in Morigaon district. He said the matter was detected during the printing process of the draft in the district. Hajela on Saturday said, “We will continue to track the cases pending in the Foreigners Tribunal and if the tribunal declares them as foreigners, their names will not be included.” At the same time, the names of all Indians will be included in the final list, he added. “This is a continuous process and the law allows me to remove all discrepancies or errors and ensure the publication of an error and foreigner-free final NRC,” Hajela said. People whose names did not figure in the complete draft can file claims, objections and re-apply between 30 August and 28 September. “We will take up each case, conduct hearings and clear or dispose the names according to the documents submitted,” he said. People have been allowed to submit new sets of documents to prove their legacy and they can provide old, new or mixed set of old and new documents for the purpose, the state coordinator said. Hajela said three kinds of errors have been detected in the draft NRC – wrong exclusion, for which claims can be filed; wrong inclusion, for which objections can be filed; and misspelt names and wrong addresses. People can apply online for the corrections and it has been synchronised with the 30 August–28 September period for applications, claim and objections, he added. “The NRC has been a mammoth exercise and the first draft cannot be perfect but we are committed to ensure an error-free final list,” the state coordinator added. The Union home ministry is currently preparing the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for handling the claims and objections. The SOP will be submitted in the Supreme Court on 16 August, following which the apex court will fix the future course of action, he said.