In response to two petitions for national identity cards for individuals whose names are listed in the Assam NRC, the Supreme Court on Monday requested answers from the Center and the Registrar General of Citizen Registration. The Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind and the All Assam Minority Students Union (Aamsu) have submitted the same appeals.
Following a brief hearing by senior counsel Kapil Sibal and Indira Jaising, who represented the two organizations, respectively, a bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and A.S.
Chandurkar sent notices to the respondent authorities. Through advocate on record Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, Aamsu and Jamiat have filed writ petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution, requesting instructions to the Center and the Registrar General of Citizen Registration to finish the NRC process in Assam by completing the statutory steps of issuing identity cards that have been pending since the final NRC was published on August 31, 2019.
From 2013 to 2019, the Supreme Court oversaw "a scientific, data driven and evidence based exercise" called the NRC, Assam.
The two senior counsels stated that years of careful verification, cross checking of legacy data, and examination of more than 3.3 crore applications led to the final NRC, which was jointly released by the registrar general and the state coordinator.
According to the petitioners, it was meant to provide a final and legal answer to the long-standing citizenship dispute in Assam.
The two senior counsel argued that since the Supreme Court has been closely monitoring the subject for more than five years, the matter should be addressed by the highest court, despite Justice Narasimha's initial opinion that the Gauhati High Court could handle it efficiently.
