Deadline for finalisation of Assam NRC will not be extended: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court Wednesday ruled that it will not extend the July 31 deadline for finalisation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice R F Nariman also gave a "free hand" to Prateek Hajela, Assam NRC coordinator dealing with claims and objections of persons against wrong exclusion or inclusion of citizens in the NRC.

The direction came after Hajela informed the bench that many persons, who had objected to the inclusion of certain individuals in the draft NRC are not coming forward before panels which are dealing with such complaints.

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is being updated under the direct monitoring of the Supreme Court.

The final draft of NRC was released on July 30, 2018, that included the names of 2.9 crore people out of the total applications of 3.29 crore. Around 40.7 lakh people had found their names excluded from the list.

A window ending December 31, 2018, was provided for those who wanted to file claims for re-inclusion.

Within this same period, people who suspected that foreigners have made their way to the list were also allowed to file their objections.

The first draft was published during the intervening nights of December 31, 2017, and January 1, 2018, containing 1.9 crore names.

The NRC aims to separate "genuine" citizens from "illegal immigrants".

(With inputs from agencies)