Guwahati, Nov 2: Following the Supreme Court’s October 17 decision to uphold Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, the Coordination Committee Against Citizenship Amendment Act, Assam (CCACAAA), has called on the Registrar General of India (RGI) to release the final draft of Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC). The most recent version of the NRC was released on August 31, 2019, but the final list remains unpublished.
The Supreme Court’s decision affirmed the constitutionality of Section 6A, an amendment added to the Citizenship Act in 1985 as part of the Assam Accord. This section sets March 25, 1971, as the cut-off date for identifying foreign nationals in Assam, a key measure from the Assam Accord that was signed after a six-year anti-foreigner movement to protect Assamese citizens’ rights and identity.
In a letter to the RGI, CCACAAA chairman Dr. Hiren Gohain and chief coordinator Deben Tamuly urged the immediate release of the final NRC, emphasizing that the update was a major undertaking. They noted that the process, anchored in the March 25, 1971, cut-off date, involved 26,000 state employees and cost approximately ₹1,600 crore. Despite this extensive effort, the final list remains unpublished, and rejection slips have not been issued, which they attributed to objections raised in the Supreme Court by certain organizations, including the state government, seeking re-verification in certain areas. These objections, however, were dismissed by the Court.
With the recent Supreme Court decision affirming Section 6A, CCACAAA leaders argued that there is now no legal basis for withholding the final NRC. They expressed confidence that the publication would be broadly welcomed across Assam, barring politically motivated opposition. “We request you to publish it without any further delay,” they concluded, stressing the importance of transparency and the need to honor a longstanding commitment to the people of Assam.
