GUWAHATI, Oct 15 - The process of filing of claims and objections on the draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is yet to pick up as only a small number of those, whose names were not included in the draft submitted claims, while, only a handful of objections have been received till date. It may be mentioned here that the Supreme Court is scheduled to monitor the progress of the process of receiving claims and objections on the next date of hearing scheduled for October 23.
Highly placed official sources told The Assam Tribune that though names of more than 40 lakh applicants were not included in the draft of the NRC published on July 30, only around one lakh of those whose names were not included, filed claims so far. The process of receiving claims and objections started on September 30 and it is likely to continue tentatively up to November 23.
Though there have been allegations by various organizations that names of a substantial number of suspected foreigners were included in the draft, none of the organizations making such allegations have come forward to submit objections. According to records available, only around 40 objections have been filed so far. Sources revealed that to submit objection, the Application Receipt Number (ARN) of the person, against whom objection is sought to be raised, is required. Sources said that it is not difficult for anyone to get the ARN of any person to raise objection as following the directive of the Supreme Court, the hard copies of the NRC with all the details are made available in all the offices of the Deputy Commissioners and Sub Divisional Officers and anyone can obtain the details.
It may be mentioned here that the Supreme Court has directed the State NRC Coordinator to start the process of receiving claims and objections by allowing the people to file claims with ten documents, while, decision on allowing five other documents were kept on the hold. The Court, in the last hearing, decided that it would monitor the progress of receiving claims and objections on the next hearing.
Meanwhile, the Court is yet to clear the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for disposal of claims and objections. Following the directive of the Court, the Government of India, in consultation with the Assam Government and the State NRC Coordinator, prepared a draft of the NRC and submitted it to the Court. The views of other stakeholders were also taken while preparing the SOP. Official sources said that the draft of the SOP is now under consideration of the Apex Court but it is still not known whether the Court would give clearance to it on the next date of hearing. Sources also pointed out that the process of submission of claims and objections is likely to pick up only after the SOP is announced.