GUWAHATI, Nov 26 - Non-availability of the �Acquirer Received Number� (ARN) in public domain is the main reason behind the very few numbers of objections filed till date in the NRC updating process, alleged the Prabajan Virodhi Manch (PVM) in a memorandum submitted to the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India Sailesh and State Coordinator of NRC Prateek Hajela.
�Inclusion of the ARN is the first step in the application to be filed only after which other details of the person included have to be filled in. This ARN number however is not publicly available and even the NRC Sewa Kendras are loath to disclose such information,� said Upamanyu Hazarika, an advocate of the Supreme Court and convenor of the PVM in the memorandum.
Hazarika also said that the procedure for filing an objection has rendered the entire process a nullity as it requires fore-knowledge on the part of the objector about the applicant�s ARN number. This is akin to the regime prevailing under the IMDT Act, under which the complainant had to prove that the accused was a foreigner, contrary to the provisions of the Foreigners Act, he said.
�It was clear from the first day that an institutional attempt was made to forestall the filing of any objections, because the first form circulated on the NRC website for filing of objection carried a warning to all objectors that any false objection was liable for prosecution under the Citizenship Act,� Hazarika alleged.
The memorandum further said that the entire NRC process and the software have been designed around an ARN number, so that every applicant is referable to a particular number. While this may be conducive for internal management process, no thought as in typical bureaucratic fashion was given to make the objection process accessible and easy. This will only ensure the benefit of foreigners included in the final draft and on their way to becoming citizens because the objections process has been made impossible.
According to the PVM, 5,11,254 of those excluded from the final draft NRC have applied for re-inclusion and 194 objections have been filed as of November 22.
�Both these figures are on the extremely low side. According to official figures 40,07,707 have been excluded from the final draft and last date of filing claims and objections is December 15 and with barely three weeks to go for the deadline, 12.5 per cent submission for re-inclusion is mysterious to say the least. If 40 lakh applicants have been excluded and have gone through a rigorous procedure of form filing, verification, etc., it is necessary to investigate and to make the reasons for such low percentage of submission public,� Hazarika added.