GUWAHATI, Dec 10 - Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has gone against the spirit of the orders of the Supreme Court in matters of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC), alleged the All Assam Students� Union (AASU).
The student body also submitted a memorandum to the Supreme Court-appointed committee of retired High Court judges in this regard on Wednesday.
Talking to The Assam Tribune, chief adviser to the AASU, Samujjal Bhattacharya pointed out that in its last judgement on December 1, the Supreme Court had clearly stated that the officers engaged in the process of updating the NRC should not be used for any other work so that they can concentrate fully on the vital work. The SC also stated clearly that the officers engaged in the process should report to the State coordinator regularly and he, in turn, should report to the Registrar General of India.
However, despite the Supreme Court order, the Tarun Gogoi-led government has transferred deputy commissioners of five districts, which would slow down the process of updating the NRC, alleged Bhattacharya. He pointed out that at a time when the vital phase of verifying the documents submitted by the applicants is going on, a new deputy commissioner in any district would take time to understand the related issues, which would slow down the process. He said that as the deputy commissioners have to play a key role in the process of updating the NRC, the government should not have transferred any of them when the process is on.
The AASU chief adviser further said that the revenue department had also issued a directive entrusting the officers engaged in NRC updating work with other works like land settlement, which is a violation of the Supreme Court order. He said that last month also, the government had issued such an order, but that had to be withdrawn following public pressure. But the government again engaged the officers in other works in violation of the Supreme Court order, he added.
Bhattacharya said that the AASU submitted a memorandum in this regard to the Committee of Retired Judges appointed by the Supreme Court on Wednesday so that the matter can be properly reported to the apex court.
Meanwhile, the AASU also said that the Centre failed in its responsibility of monitoring the progress of updating the NRC.
