Guwahati: Seeking to allay the concerns of bonafide citizens, the Assam government said Tuesday it will provide legal aid to the ‘needy’ people whose names do not figure in the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) list to be published, August 31.
People left out of the NRC will not be detained ‘under any circumstances’ until foreigners tribunals (FTs) declare them as foreigners, Assam’s Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Kumar Sanjay Krishna said in a statement released.
“The Assam Government will make necessary arrangements to provide legal aid to the needy people amongst those excluded from NRC by providing all assistance through the District Legal Services Authorities (DLSA),” Krishna said.
Under the provisions of Foreigners’ Act, 1946, and Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964, only foreigners’ tribunals are empowered to declare a person a foreigner. “Therefore, non-inclusion of a person’s name in NRC does not by itself amount to him/her being declared as foreigner,” the statement said.
For the benefit of those whose names do not appear in the final NRC, appeals can be made as per Section 8 of the Schedule to the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
The Centre has extended the time limit for filing of appeals from 60 days to 120 days and necessary amendment has been made to the Foreigners’ (Tribunals) Amendment Order, 2019.
Two hundred foreigners’ tribunals are being set up in Assam shortly for hearing the appeals filed in a smooth manner, said the statement.
The process of finalisng the NRC is being conducted by the Registrar General of India and the entire process is being monitored by the Supreme Court. The previous NRC of Assam was published in 1951.
When the draft NRC was published July 30, 2018, there was a huge controversy over the exclusion of 40.7 lakh people from it. The draft NRC included the names of 2.9 crore people out of the total 3.29 crore applications. In the list published in June 2019, over a lakh more people were excluded.
The Supreme Court-monitored NRC exercise, is aimed at identifying illegal immigrants in the state that borders Bangladesh. Assam has faced influx of people from Bangladesh since the early 20th century.
PTI