The latest FT judgment changes the debate around the Assam NRC list
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NRC is final - Assam foreigners’ tribunal
- The story: The NRC (National Register of Citizens) was updated on the basis of the Assam Accord of 1985, which was signed after a six-year-long agitation against undocumented immigrants. The process took four years to complete under the supervision of the Supreme Court, and final list was issued.
- Rejected: However, the local BJP government rejected the findings outright. As many as 33 million (3.3 crore) people applied to be included on the list that identifies Indian citizens. The final list announced on August 31, 2019, excluded over 1.9 million applicants. Several thousand crores were spent on the whole exercise! {The ruling BJP argued that 1.9 million people excluded was much lower than the actual number of undocumented immigrants in the state. It also insisted that nearly 200,000 genuine Indians were left out}
- Recent development: A foreigners’ tribunal (FT) in Assam’s Karimganj district called the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) final even as it is yet to be notified and declared a resident of the area an Indian national citing his inclusion in the document.
- Bikram Singha, the resident, was declared a doubtful voter whose citizenship was under suspicion after the state’s border police registered a case against him in 2008. The tribunal on September 10 declared him an Indian citizen based on the appearance of his name in the updated NRC published in 2019.
- It said that “Preparation of NRC for Assam was directed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in a time-bound manner and fixed a time schedule whose last step was mentioned as Finalization of Final updated NRC. Final NRC In Assam has been published as per direction and monitoring of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, so there should not be any doubt about finality or legality".
- Where are the final ID cards: The Notification for preparation of NRC in Assam was issued by Register General of India. Final NRC, (i.e. Supplementary List of NRC together with Draft NRC) was published on 31.08.2019 which is available online on the official website of NRC Assam wherein also it’s referred and mentioned as ‘Final NRC’. This legal position is still in force. The National Identity Cards have yet to be issued to the Citizens whose names have been included in Final NRC. The FT said that there is no doubt that this NRC Assam published in 2019 is nothing but Final NRC.
- The story of Singha: Mr Singha, a resident of Jamirala village in Karimganj district, was earlier declared a doubtful voter by the tribunal on the basis of an ex-parte judgement after he failed to appear before it. He later appeared before the tribunal delaying its order by almost two months. Singha’s lawyer could not produce adequate documents which could establish his family was living in India prior to 1966, the year when Citizenship Act was first amended.
- Singha’s name was included on the voter list in 1997. His other documents, including a land deed of 1968, showed his father and grandfather lived in Jamirala village before 1968. His father served as an Indian Air Force employee after 1972. But the documents could not help him to prove his citizenship in the tribunal. No document could establish the fact that they were residents in Assam prior to 1966.
- Singha’s lawyer argued as his name appeared in the final NRC in August 2019, he should be considered as Indian citizen. She referred to the White Paper on Foreigners’ Issue published by Assam’s home and political department in October 2012 and said it says anyone born between January 26, 1950, and July 1, 1987, can be considered an Indian citizen by birth irrespective of the nationality of parents.
- The lawyer cited Section 6A and Section 3 of the Citizenship Act and added it is clear that Section 6A deals with persons who came to Assam from a specified territory. “Their children are not covered by the provisions of section 6A but are covered within the ambit of section 3 of the Citizenship Act 1955. Thus Section 3 of the Citizenship Act is applicable in Assam as the rest of India unless and until it’s repealed, amended or struck down. Nothing of these has happened yet.”
- Government unhappy: The Assam government on September 4 directed the foreigners’ tribunals to refrain from passing consequential orders and stick to “opinion” while passing judgement on a person’s nationality. But may are calling the tribunal’s verdict (in Singha’s case) a welcome judgement.
- Problems: Social activists who help doubtful voters to fight their cases, have called for the need for a more humane approach while dealing with such matters. They claim that many genuine Indian citizens face allegations of not being Indian just because courts delay their hearings. Many also believe that foreigners’ tribunal courts are useless because they do not have the courage to pass a judgement. But the latest judgement is welcome. Those left out of the final NRC were assured that they would not be declared foreigners and have the option of filing appeals.
- But they have not been issued rejection slips, which would enable them to file appeals.
- The NRC is yet to be notified by the Registrar General of India. Several applications seeking re-verification of the list are pending in the Supreme Court.
- EXAM QUESTIONS: (1) Explain the latest judgment by a Foreigners' Tribunal in Assam, which upheld the Indian citizenship of a person. (2) What is the problem with the Assam NRC list issued in 2019? Why was it not accepted by the BJP?
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