Supreme Court Issues Notice on Pleas to Finalise Assam NRC Process

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre, Assam Government, and NRC authorities over petitions filed by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind and AAMSU, seeking completion of pending steps for the Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) published in August 2019.

A Bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and A.S. Chandurkar sought responses on why the final statutory procedures under the Citizenship Rules, 2003 remain incomplete six years after publication.

Petitioners, represented by Kapil Sibal and Indira Jaising, argued that no National Identity Cards have been issued to the 3.11 crore included citizens, nor have rejection slips been given to the 19 lakh excluded individuals to appeal before Foreigners’ Tribunals.

They said the delay has left lakhs in a state of “citizenship uncertainty”, undermining due process despite spending ₹1,600 crore on the NRC. The petitioners urged the court to direct authorities to complete the process and issue the required documents to bring the NRC to its logical conclusion.