S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO(S). 274/2009
ASSAM PUBLIC WORKS ….PETITIONER(S)
VERSUS
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. ….RESPONDENT(S)
( AND IA NO.22616/2018-IMPLEADING PARTY)
WITH
W.P.(C) NO. 562/2012 (X)
(I.A. 114708/2017 APPLICATION FOR EARLY HEARING IN W.P. (C) 562/2012 MAY BE LISTED)
W.P.(C) NO. 916/2014 (PIL-W)
(FOR [PERMISSION TO FILE ANNEXURES] ON IA 2/2015 FOR EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T. ON IA 3/2015 AND IA NO.119677/2017-IMPLEADING PARTY)
W.P.(C) NO. 876/2014 (X)
W.P.(C) NO. 311/2015 (X)
(FOR ON IA 2/2015)
W.P.(C) NO. 449/2015 (X)
(FOR ON IA 1/2015)
W.P.(C) NO. 450/2015 (X)
(FOR ON IA 1/2015)
W.P.(C) NO. 68/2016 (PIL-W)
Date : 27-03-2018 These cases were called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RANJAN GOGOI
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE ROHINTON FALI NARIMAN
For parties:
Mr. K.K. Venugopal, AG
Mr. Tushar Mehta, ASG
Ms. Rekha Pandey, Adv.
Ms. Rashmi Malhotra, Adv.
Ms. Binu Tamta, Adv.
Mr. Rohit Bhatt, Adv.
Mr. B.V. Balaram Das, AOR
Mr. R.M. Bajaj, Adv.
Mr. Rajat Nair, Adv.
Mrs. Anit Katiyar, Adv.
Assam State Election Commission
Mr. Avijit Roy, AOR
Mr. Niran Borah, Adv.
Mr. Kailash Prashad Pandey, AOR
Mr. Manish Goswami, Adv.
Mr. Rameshwar Prasad Goyal, AOR.
Mr. Santi Ranjan Das, Adv.
Mr. Anindo Mukherjee, Adv.
Mrs. Sarla Chandra, AOR
Mr. Somiran Sharma, AOR
Mr. Gaurav Dhingra, AOR
Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, AOR
Ms. Akriti Chaubey, Adv.
Ms. Tanya Shree, Adv.
Mr. Kunwar Aditya Singh, Adv.
Mr. B. Krishna Prasad, AOR
Mr. Snehasish Mukherjee, AOR
Mr. Asit Kumar Roy, Adv.
Ms. Shampa Nath, Adv.
State of Assam
Mr. Tushar Mehta, ASG
Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR
Mr. Sayooj Mohandas M., Adv.
Mr. J.B. Ekka, Secy. Panchayat & Rural Dev., Assam
Mr. Shibashish Misra, AOR
Mr. Mansoor Ali, Adv.
Mr./Ms. Shaista J., Adv.
SJF
Mr. Mehmood Pracha, Adv.
Mr. R.H.A. Sikander, Adv.
Mr. Prateek Gupta, Adv.
Mr. Mohd. Danish, Adv.
Mr. Shadan Farasat, AOR
Mr. Dilawar Abbas Naqvi, Adv.
Mr. Mohit D. Ram, AOR
Mr. Vinay Pratap Pandey, Adv.
Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Devinder Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Mohan Pandey, AOR
Mr. Syed Ali Ahmad, Adv.
Mr. Syed Tanweer Ahmad, Adv.
Mr. S.S. Bandyopadhyay, Adv.
Mr. Mohan Pandey, Adv.
Ms. Madhumita Bhattacharjee, AOR
Mr. Guntur Prabhakar, AOR
Mr. Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, AOR
Mr. Abdul Qadir, Adv.
Mr. Jawad Tariq, Adv.
Mr. Abhijit Sengupta, AOR
Gauhati HC
Ms. Sneha Kalita, AOR
APCC
Mr. Navnit Kumar, Adv.
M/S. Corporate Law Group, AOR
AASU
Mr. Prateek Jalan, Adv.
Ms. Malvika Trivedi, Adv.
Mr. Rahul Kriplani, Adv.
Mr. Ankit Yadav, Adv.
Mr. T. Mahipal, AOR
Ms. Sushma Suri, AOR
Mr. V. K. Sidharthan, AOR
State of Tripura
Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR
Mr. Rituraj Biswas, Adv.
Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, AOR
Mr. Ashok Kumar Singh, AOR
State of Mizoram
Mr. Shikhar Garg, Adv.
Mr. Ganesh B., Adv.
Mr. P. V. Yogeswaran, AOR.
Mr. Anuvrat Sharma, AOR
State of Uttarakhand
Mrs. D. Bharathi Reddy, AOR
Ms. Rachna Gandhi, Adv.
UT of A & N Admn.
Mr. Bhupesh Narula, Adv.
Mr. K.V. Jagdishvaran, Adv.
Ms. G. Indira, AOR
State of Chattisgarh
Mr. Aniruddha P. Mayee, AOR
Mr. Avnish M. Oza, Adv.
Mr. Chirag Jain, Adv.
State of Jharkhand
Mr. Tapesh Kumar Singh, AOR
Mr. Mohd. Waquas, Adv.
Mr. Aditya Pratap Singh, Adv.
State of Goa
Mr. A.N.S. Nadkarni, ASG
Mr. Santosh S. Rebello, Adv.
Mr. Anuj Sarma, Adv.
Ms. Niharika, Adv.
Ms. Kanika Kalaiyarasan, Adv.
Mr. Pratap Venugopal, Adv.
for M/S. K J John And Co, AOR.
State of Sikkim
Ms. Aruna Mathur, Adv.
Mr. Avneesh Arputham, Adv
Ms. Anuradha Arputham, Adv.
Ms. Simran Jeet, Adv.
for M/S. Arputham Aruna And Co, AOR.
State of Rajasthan
Mr. Sarad Kumar Singhania, Adv.
Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR
Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR
State of Gujarat
Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR
Ms. Jesal Wahi, Adv.
Ms. Mamta Singh, Adv.
Ms. Shodhika Sharma, Adv.
Ms. Abha R. Sharma, AOR
Mr. D.S. Parmar, Adv.
Mr./Ms. Sujeeta Srivastava, Adv.
Mr. Atmaram N.S. Nadkarni, ASG
Mr. Merusagar Samantaray, AOR
Mr. S. Santosh Rebello, Adv.
Ms. Lhingneivah, Adv.
Ms. Sneha P. Tendulkar, Adv.
Ms. Nivedita Nair, Adv.
Ms. Liz Mathew, AOR
State of Kerala
Mr. C. K. Sasi, AOR
State of Meghalaya
Mr. Daniel Stone Leingdoh, Adv.
Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, AOR.
State of Nagaland
Mr. Edward Belho, Adv.
Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR
Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv.
Mr. K. Luikang Michael, Adv.
State of Punjab
Ms. Ranjeeta Rohatgi, AOR
Mr. Kuldip Singh, AOR
State of Rajasthan
Mr. S.S. Shamshery, AAG, Rajasthan
Mr. Amit Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Sandeep Singh, Adv.
Mr. Ankit Raj, Adv.
Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv.
Ms. Ruchi Kohli, AOR
Mr. Milind Kumar, Adv.
Mr. B. Balaji, AOR
State of UP
Mr. V.V.V. Pattabhi Ram, Adv.
Mr. Upendra Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Abhishek, AOR
Ms. Rachana Srivastava, AOR
Ms. Monika, Adv.
Mr./Ms. Sudipta, Adv.
Mr. Aviral Saxena, Adv.
Ms. Rachana Srivastava, Adv.
Mr. Parijat Sinha, AOR
Mr. Partha Sil, AOR
Ms. Diksha Rai, AOR
State of Assam
Mr. Debojit Borkakati, AOR
Mr. M. Balashivudu, Adv.
For M/S. Equity Lex Associates, AOR
Mr. B.H. Marlapalle, Sr.Adv.
Mr. Ajit Wagh, Adv.
Mr. Apoorv Shukla, Adv.
Mr. Aditya Gaggar, Adv.
Mr. Shakil Ahmed Syed, AOR
Mr. B.H. Marlapalle, Sr.Adv.
Mr. Ajit Wagh, Adv.
Mr. Aditya Gaggar, Adv.
Mr. Apoorv Shukla, Adv.
Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, AOR
IMPL
Mr. Mansoor Ali, Adv.
Mr. A.K. Talukdar, Adv.
Ms. Lubna Ishrat Siddiqui, Adv.
Mr. Chandan Kr. Mandal, Adv.
State of H.P.
Mr. Ajay Marwah, AOR
State of Telangana
Mr. S. Udaya Kumar Sagar, Adv.
Mr. Mrityunjai singh, Adv.
State of J & K
Mr. M. Shoeb Alam, AOR
Ms. Fauzia Shakil, Adv.
Mr. Ujjwal Singh, Adv.
Mr. Mojahid Karim Khan, Adv.
State of T.N.
Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna, AOR
Mrs. Sujatha Bagadhi, Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
I.A. NO.121402 OF 2017 IN WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO.274 OF 2009
We have heard Shri K.K. Venugopal, learned Attorney General for India in support of the application for extension of time for publication of the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam.
We have also considered the statements made in support of the aforesaid prayer.
At the very outset, we would like to mention that to a pointed query made by a Member of the Bench (Hon’ble Mr. Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman) as to whether, if extension prayed for is to be granted, there could be a request for further extension in the future the learned Attorney General has submitted that such a possibility cannot be ruled out and, if required, further time will be sought.
The exercise of preparation of the upgradation of the draft NRC has been presently going on for the last three years. Time schedule was first laid by this Court by its order dated 17.12.2014. The final time frame laid down by order of this Court dated 13.07.2017 contemplates publication of the draft NRC latest by 31st December, 2017.
To another query made by the Bench, Shri Prateek Hajela, learned State Coordinator, NRC, Assam has submitted that by 31st December, 2017 scrutiny of about 2 crore cases/claims are likely to be completed. In the application for extension filed by the Registrar General of Citizen Registration, India, the remaining claims to be verified have been placed in three categories which are as follows:
a) 38 lakh persons where the doubts have arisen in respect of some documents and particulars,
b) 47 lakh persons where doubts have arisen in respect of their parental linkage after undertaking matching of family tree of an applicant, and
c) 29 lakh persons cases kept in abeyance belonging to the category of married women who have submitted Gram Panchayat Secretary Certificate.
On being asked, Shri Hajela has submitted that so far as the claims of 38 lakh persons in respect of whom doubts have arisen qua documents and particulars, instructions have already been issued to complete the process by 15th January, 2018. This time frame has also been indicated in the affidavit of the Registrar General of Citizen Registration, India. We accordingly direct Shri Hajela to complete the said process relating to the above 38 lakh claims on or before 31st December, 2017 by deployment of additional man-power and resources. Thereafter, on the expiry of the midnight of 31st December, 2017, draft NRC pertaining to the 2 crore claims which have been verified or likely to be verified by the said date and the additional 38 lakh claims, mentioned above, will be published. The prayer for extension, accordingly, stands rejected.
The matter will be listed on 20th February, 2018 for further orders.
After the aforesaid order had been dictated, Shri K.K. Venugopal, learned Attorney General for India has submitted that fixing a date for publication of the draft NRC is really an executive function and an order to the aforesaid effect by the Court would be an encroachment on the executive domain and violation of doctrine of separation of powers.
The aforesaid contention advanced before the Court for the first time overlooks the fact that over a period of three years the Court has been monitoring the matter and fixing appropriate time-lines for the completion of different phases of the exercise of updating the NRC. Even on the last date i.e. 13th July, 2017, when 31st December, 2017 was fixed for publication of the draft NRC the contentions now advanced were not made before the Court. That apart, 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.
Learned Attorney General has further submitted that part publication of the draft NRC could result in a law and order situation inasmuch as a large segment of the people would understand that their names have been excluded from the draft NRC. We do not see how the aforesaid situation can even remotely arise as we have already indicated in the earlier part of the present order that claims of 47 lakh persons and 29 lakh persons are still pending and would be subject to verification and covered by publication of another draft NRC at a subsequent point of time.
In view of the above, the additional contentions advanced by the learned Attorney General do not commend for acceptance.
Re: Border Fencing
A copy of the report submitted by the Court Constituted Committee be furnished to Shri Tushar Mehta, learned Additional Solicitor General who will interact with the concerned authority in the Central Government and revert to this Court on the next date fixed i.e. 20th February, 2018 along with the report of the concerned authority indicating the action taken and proposed to be taken and also indicating a time schedule for the remaining action required to be taken. List the matters on 20th February, 2018.
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