Was NRC Chief Coordinator Prateek Hajela transferred out of the NRC secretariat and sent to deputation to Madhya Pradesh or Hajela himself orchestrated the transfer to his home state?
Looking at the NRC related developments, both outside and inside courts, there are two conflicting and contradictory views.
Inside the Supreme court, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi curtly directed the Centre and State government to remove Mr Hajela out of NRC and place it in deputation in Madhya Pradesh.
Although no reason was specified despite being pressed by Attorney General KK Venugopal, the oral judgment was significant. Not only Mr Hajela was removed from the NRC but placed on a specific state i.e Madhya Pradesh, which happens to be the home state of Mr Hajela.
Although the court did not specify the exact reason the sources of the court informed that it was due to security reasons.
But outside the court, AASU adviser Samujjal Kr Bhattacharya, BJP MLA Shiladitya Dev and Senior Lawyer Upamanyu Hazarika all have expressed happiness for removing Mr Hajela from the NRC terming him as corrupt, incompetent and arrogant.
Each of them welcomed the Supreme Court Move and each had a negative story to tell about Mr Hajela. If Mr Shiladitya accused him of being corrupt, Mr Hazarika termed him as arrogant while the AASU accused him of not following the SC orders clearly.
On the other hands, Assam Public Works(APW) expressed their displeasure at the Supreme Court for allowing Mr Hajalea to go scot-free as they termed him as the main villain of the NRC mess.
But in between, quietly both Mr Hajela and CJI Ranjan Gogoi, the chief architect of the NRC in the past 6 years, have moved out of the NRC sphere as both would not be there in the next hearing slated for November 26.
Now a new NRC boss and new Chief Justice S A Bobde will pick up the NRC case to carry it forward.
