GUWAHATI, Nov 25 - The Registrar General of India (RGI) has asked the Assam Government to give �utmost priority� to the process of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) of 1951. Meanwhile, the All Assam Students� Union (AASU) has alleged that the State Government has been posing hurdles in the way of updating the NRC and demanded that the Centre should send a team of senior officers to monitor the process.
In a letter to the State Chief Secretary VK Pipersenia, the RGI said that instructions should be issued to all officials of the State to give utmost priority to the process of updating the NRC. The letter said that during the process of receiving applications, around 6 crore documents have been received from 68 lakh households, which would have to be verified within a short period. This would require cooperation from officers of Assam and other States.
The RGI pointed out that under Rule 5 of the Citizenship (Registration of Citizen and Issue of National Identity Cards) and the observations of the Supreme Court, if any officer is found lax in the activity of updating the NRC, action should be taken against such officer. This rule should be brought to the notice of all the concerned officials, the letter said.
The RGI further said that as this is a time-bound exercise and the compliance is being monitored by the Supreme Court, the Chief Secretary should ensure that the officers involved are not disturbed during the period unless it is a matter of grave necessity.
The RGI further requested the Chief Secretary to nominate senior officers of the State Government to regularly monitor the work and ensure smooth conduct of the exercise of updating the NRC.
Meanwhile, the AASU has alleged that time and again the State Government has been posing hurdles in the process of updating the NRC. The Government first engaged the officers involved in the process in other works and the notification was later withdrawn due to public pressure. The Government has not even extended cooperation to the committee of retired Judges appointed by the Supreme Court to receive complaints from the public regarding the process, said AASU chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya.
Bhattacharya pointed out that the people of Assam overwhelmingly participated in the process by submitting their applications and now the most crucial phase of verification of the applications and documents is going on and all the Government officials and employees engaged in the process should give top priority to the process for a national cause. The officials should play a pro-active role to ensure that no foreigner can include his or her name in the NRC with false and fabricated documents, he said.
The process of updating the NRC gathered momentum because of active monitoring by the Supreme Court and the Central Government should also play its role by sending a team of senior officials to monitor the process, the AASU demanded.
