NEW DELHI, Dec 15 - Allaying apprehensions, the Supreme Court today disposed of a petition seeking modification of its order on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) passed on November 30.
Acting on an intervention petition filed by one Jyotilal, a Bench of the Supreme Court led by Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman reiterated its observation of November 30, stating that the claims of the applicants whose names are not included in the draft NRC to be published on or before December 31, would be scrutinised and thereafter, if found eligible, would be included in the subsequent draft NRC.
�This, in our considered view, should allay the apprehensions expressed by the applicant, which is to a similar effect as those expressed before the Court by the Attorney General,� the Bench said.
The Supreme Court said that it was of the view that the issue of publication of the draft NRC had been exhaustively debated. �On due consideration, we had passed the order directing that the draft NRC insofar as 2.38 crore claimants are concerned be published on or before December 31 and at a subsequent point of time there would be publication of another NRC in respect of the remaining cases. While passing the order, we had taken note of the statements made by AG that publication of the draft NRC could result in the law and order situation inasmuch as large segment of the people would understand that their names are excluded from the draft NRC.
�We do not see how the situation can even remotely arise as we have already indicated that claims of 47 lakh persons and 29 lakh persons are still pending and would be subject to verification and covered by publication of another draft NRC at a subsequent point of time.�
The petitioner had expressed his apprehension that the publication of the NRC in two parts might lead to a law-and-order situation and confusion among the people.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court gave liberty to the State Government to give wide publicity to the order so as to allay all fears and apprehensions that may exist.
�We also make it clear that the publication of the draft NRC is not the end of the process and against such draft publications, claims and objections of the aggrieved parties can be filed, which naturally, will be verified in accordance with law,� the Bench said.
