GUWAHATI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday stated that it will not extend the July 31 deadline for publication of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam. A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice R F Nariman said that the NRC process and Lok Sabha elections can go on simultaneously.
"We will not extend the deadline for publication of final NRC on July 31, 2019. Lok Sabha polls and NRC work can go on simultaneously," said the bench. This was on NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela’s submission that officials engaged in the NRC work have been assigned election duties.
Hajela had stated to the bench, "Till elections in the state are over, I have to work with current set of people. But after the polls, more people will be needed for the NRC work. I will also be needing IT people for quality checks and data entry to meet the deadline of July 31."
The bench told Hajela, "All we are concerned is meeting the deadline of July 31. After the polls more manpower and technology support will be provided. How you do the work is your concern."
