GUWAHATI: After the Supreme Court ordered the government to transfer National Register of Citizens (NRC) coordinator Prateek Hajela to his home state of Madhya Pradesh, the hunt for a new coordinator has started. Though the new NRC coordinator will not have much work to do, many bureaucrats are still unwilling to take the job.
“The bureaucrats are not that enthusiastic to take over the charge of the NRC coordinator,” said a highly placed source in Dispur.
A highly placed source in the NRC headquarters, talking to G Plus, expressed that the new NRC coordinator will not have much work to do as the final NRC list has already been prepared. On enquiring if the process is being affected by Hajela’s pipelined transfer, the source said that now there is not much work left. After the final list is published, the only work is the issuance of rejection letters to the 19,06,657 applicants whose names did not get published in the final list.
Before Hajela leaves for Madhya Pradesh, the work on rejection letter issuance will also be completed, said the source.
After receiving the rejection letters the applicants will have to approach the foreigners’ tribunals (FTs) in the state. Thereafter, if any applicant is found genuine, the NRC coordinator will be asked by the FTs to include the name in the NRC list. So, that will be the only work left with the new NRC coordinator unless the Supreme Court issues any new assignment.
The NRC coordinator is a commissioner level post and the government has shortlisted a few names.
The final NRC, which was published on August 31, found a total of 3,11,21,004 persons eligible for inclusion in the register leaving out 19,06,657 persons.
Going according to the process, these 20 lakh odd people whose name did not appear in the list were expected to receive rejection orders from the NRC coordinator.
At present there is confusion regarding who will issue such an order - the new coordinator or the deputy commissioners of the districts? The order is expected to explain the reasons of rejection and the process explaining how to move to the foreigners’ tribunals. The orders will not be signed by Hajela, but the officers on field, said the source from NRC headquarters.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has asked the government to ensure that the NRC coordinator submits the accounts of Rs 1,600 crores spent on the NRC process before leaving the state.
It won’t be a difficult task as the entire process was monitored by the Supreme Court, therefore the calculation can be easily provided, claimed the source.
Many organizations have expressed their unhappiness with the final figures for they feel that it has not taken into consideration the fact that Assam has, for long, battled the problem of illegal influx from Bangladesh.
Sources in NRC secretariat explained that the process is entirely based on facts and factual documents. But whatever be the calculations and allegations by various organizations and the political parties, the facts remain that as of now 19,06,657 persons have not made it to the final list.