GUWAHATI, June 21 - At a time when Congress and some other organisations have approached the Union Home Minister against a notification issued by the State Coordinator of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Prateek Hajela on May 1, the All Assam Students� Union (AASU) has thrown its weight behind the notification and asserted that all officers involved in the process of updating the NRC should strictly follow all the clauses of the notification.
The notification issued on May 1, gave a detailed guideline for the officers involved in the process of verification of documents. The notification said that affidavits submitted for change of names should not be admissible, while, the certificates issued by the gaonburhas are not legally admissible. The certificates issued by private schools and colleges are not official records under the provisions of clause 3(1) of the Citizenship Act and are not legally admissible, while, the birth certificates issued by someone other than the Health Department are not admissible. The gaon Panchayat secretary�s certificates for males and unmarried women are not admissible for inclusion of names in the NRC.
The notification said that the verifying officers should take extra care while scrutinizing birth certificates of delayed registration, immunization records and ration cards. The notification said that while examining the refugee registration certificates, the originals should be checked properly. The notification also gave detailed guidelines on taking extra care in examining other documents submitted by the applicants.
It may be mentioned here that the Congress approached the Union Home Minister against the notification, while, some other organizations of the State have also opposed the same. But the AASU has thrown its weight behind the notification and said that no officer should come under any political pressure and strictly adhere to all the clauses of the notification.
AASU chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya said that if any individual or party has any grievance against any order of the NRC Coordinator, the matter should be brought to the notice of the Supreme Court instead of approaching the Union Home Minister. �If the Congress or any other party has any grievance against the notification, they should approach the Supreme Court. As the Supreme Court is monitoring the entire process of updating the NRC, there is no point approaching the Union Home Minister or issuing statements,� he added.
Bhattacharya alleged that the political parties should desist from indulging in vote bank politics and cooperate in the process of preparation of a correct NRC. By approaching the Home Minister the political parties are only trying to create confusion in the minds of the people, he alleged. He also pointed out that former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had recently demanded that persons whose names appeared in the voters� lists of 2014 and 2016 should be included in the NRC, which is not acceptable as it is evident that the electoral rolls of the State were not correct.
Replying to a question on the possibility of few days delay in publication of the final draft of the NRC, Bhattacharya said that the NRC Coordinator has reportedly informed the Supreme Court and it is up to the Court to decide the date for publication of it.
