Assam NRC coordinator asks authorities to delete names of "ineligible persons” from final list

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GUWAHATI:

The names of “ineligible persons” being included in the final list of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam has prompted the state coordinator, NRC, Hitesh Dev Sarma to issue a directive to delete such names from the list.

In a letter issued by Sarma on Tuesday, it directed the deputy commissioners and district registrar of citizen registration (DRCR) to issue orders for deletion of the “ineligible” names from the NRC list.

“Some names of ineligible persons belonging to the categories of DF (declared foreigners)/DV (doubtful voters)/PFT (pending in Foreigners Tribunals) along with their descendants have found entry to the NRC,” Sarma stated in the letter.

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The NRC state coordinator asked the district officials to “write speaking orders for deletion of such names from the NRC according to Clause 4(6) of the Schedule under the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003 after specifically ascertaining the identity of the person.”

Sarma stated that the authorities could verify, include or exclude any name at any time before the publication of the final NRC.

The NRC coordinator further requested the district authorities to submit the list of persons who are not eligible for having their names in the NRC along with speaking order justifying reasons for each case for necessary action for deletion of such names.

“The verification would mandatorily require the correct identity of the person so that no ambiguity arises in future as far as the identification of the person is concerned,” Sarma stated.

“A software application for submission of the reviewed results of such persons along with a mechanism for uploading of the scanned speaking order (freshly written) will be rolled out shortly,” he added.

Reports state that about 10,000 people have been identified whose names were “wrongly included” in the final NRC.

The complete NRC list was published on August 31, 2019, in Assam. The names of 19, 06,657 persons were excluded while 3, 11, 21,004 names were included out of 3, 30, 27,661 applicants.

However, the list is yet to be notified by the Registrar General of India.