GUWAHATI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday lambasted Assam State Coordinator of NRC, Prateek Hajela and Registrar General of India, Sailash on statements made by them to the media without informing the court.
Two news reports dated August 2, 2018 and August 3, 2018 were shown to both of them. The said reports quoted Hajela saying that fresh documents can be submitted during the claims and objections process. Further, Sailesh was quoted as saying that he seeks to allay the fears of people and any document can be filed in the claims and objections process.
The court warned Hajela and Sailash in stern words, 'You are guilty of contempt of court.'
The court was livid with the fact that the modalities for the claims and objections process - Standard Operational Procedure (SOP) - are yet to be shown to court then how come the two officers are giving statements to the media on what documents are to be included in the said process.
The court observed that it was inclined to send Hajela and Sailesh to prison but since the NRC updation is at a crucial stage it refrained from doing so.
The bench directed both of them to remain very careful in future and take prior approval from the Court before taking any further steps in the NRC process.
