NRC fate hangs till July 23 in SC, Centre-SC friction continues

The Centre on Friday told that Supreme Court that lakhs of people had been wrongly included in the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam. It further said that India can't be refugee capital of world.

Solicitor General (SG) and senior Supreme Court lawyer, Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and Assam Government, pleaded the Supreme Court to extend the July 31 deadline for finalisation of NRC in Assam.

• The fate of NRC continues to hang in balance as the Supreme Court will hear the matter again on  July 22 as centre and state pressed for revision while the State coordinator Prateek Hajela informed that 26% of the total NRC data (80 lakhs) had already been reverified.
• For the flood, the publication can be postponed to August 31, Mr Hajela informed the top court. The Centre will give its response on Tuesday (July 23) next.
• The hearing was crucial as the Centre and State sought to have revision by officers from different districts and of Class I level and the Supreme Court so far has given no indication that they were very excited about the idea.
• Prateek Hajela's submission punched a hole to the revision demand but the Centre would continue to push for postponement on Tuesday next.

Here are the excerpts of the courtroom drama:

CJI orally to govt: Hajela's report says while disposing of claims, 80 lakh names have been re-verified. So there is no need for a sample re-verification. If we are satisfied that verification has been done properly, then there is no need for a sample re-verification, is it?

SC gives time till Tuesday for Solicitor General to study the reports filed by Assam NRC Coordinator Prateek Hajela on July 10 and 18. Some paras in the reports, not strictly to do with the issue of sample verification, need to be redacted while giving to the govt

SG Tushar Mehta objects to SC's order to Assam NRC Coordinator to redact (censor or obscure part of a text for legal or security purposes)  few paras from his reports before handing them over to govt: There is no national secret in these reports to hide

J. Nariman: Mr. Mehta, we wish we could hear this more from your own lips in other cases.

Ranjan Gogoi : Remember Mr. Mehta, you are not the only fountain or source of information here. We have our own sources and he (Hajela) has his own

Tushar Mehta: I don't claim to be… Nor should it be so!