National Register of Citizens: SC says gram panchayat certificates can establish linkages after verification process

The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside the Gauhati High Court order which said a residency certificate issued by the gram panchayat had "no statutory sanctity" to make a claim in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam and could "at best be a private document". The apex court, which is monitoring the updation of NRC, said that gram panchayat certificates can be used to establish linkages after the verification process.A link document proves the applicant's residency in the state through the lineage of their parents or grandparents before 24 March, 1971, the cut-off date set by the Assam Accord, The Wire said in a report.Earlier, the court had said that the gram panchayat issued certificate is "meaningless" unless supported by some other valid record to make a claim for inclusion in NRC, Livemint had reported. A bench of justices Ranjan Gogoi and RF Nariman said no verification is made before such certificates are issued, the report added.

"Nobody is claiming citizenship based on this document to get an entry on the NRC list. On its own, this document is neither here nor there. The admission of this document was meaningless. One's legacy, without this document still needs to be verified," the bench had said, according to DNA.The apex court was hearing a batch of pleas challenging the Gauhati High Court order.NRC state coordinator Prateek Hajela had informed the Supreme Court that about 48 lakh people have submitted panchayat certificates as documents. He said out of these, 17.4 lakh have been identified as original inhabitants but the rest are yet to be verified, The Economic Times said in a report. Most of the 48 lakh people who submitted the document are married women belonging to the Muslim community of East Bengal origin, who had no other documents to prove their citizenship, The Wire said.The Supreme Court has also rejected the Centre's plea for more time to publish the draft NRC for Assam. The Centre had sought the extension till 31 July, 2018 to complete the task, However, the Supreme Court rejected the plea, saying "it is the sheer inaction on the part of the executive in dragging the matter for a period of over three years and the absence of any justifiable cause to hold back even a partial publication that has led the Court to direct publication of the draft NRC on or before 31st December, 2017."The office of the State Coordinator, NRC will now be required to publish the first draft after midnight on 31 December, 2017.The purpose of the NRC is to identify illegal migrants. Sushanta Talukdar wrote for Firstpost, "there has been a consensus in Assam that the updated NRC would help find a permanent solution as it would help identify all migrants from Bangladesh, who entered Assam illegally after 24 March, 1971. It would help in deletion of their names from voters' list and their expulsion from India in accordance with the Assam Accord."With inputs from PTI