Supreme Court issues notice on plea for time-bound reverification of Assam NRC over “large-scale errors”

A writ petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a complete, comprehensive, and time-bound reverification of both the draft and supplementary National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam, invoking Clause 4(3) of the Schedule to the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.

As per the report of LiveLaw, the petition underscores that preparation of a “correct and error-free NRC” is a matter of national security and one that has already been under the close supervision of the Supreme Court. The petitioner submits that several “omissions and commissions” have taken place during the updation exercise, warranting the Court’s intervention for corrective action.

On August 22, a bench of Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Justice Atul S. Chandurkar issued notice in the matter.

Who is the petitioner?

As reported by LiveLaw, the plea has been filed by Hitesh Dev Sarma, a retired IAS officer, who has approached the Court both in his personal capacity and as a representative of a “large section of indigenous people of Assam.” He argues that the flawed NRC process has compromised the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 19, 21, 25 and 29 of the Constitution.

Sarma brings insider knowledge to the petition, having served as Executive Director, NRC Assam (2014–2017) and later as State NRC Coordinator (2019–2022), until his retirement. He claims to have been directly involved in framing verification protocols during the updation process.

Background of the NRC process

• The complete draft NRC was published on July 30, 2018.
• The supplementary list was released on August 31, 2019.
• The final NRC is yet to be published by the Registrar General of India.

According to LiveLaw, the petition refers extensively to official communications, verification reports, IT vendor documents, cyber security audits, and the CAG’s findings, all of which, according to the petitioner, expose grave flaws in the NRC exercise.

Key grounds raised in the petition

1. Exclusion of eligible persons
   • Out of 40,07,719 persons excluded from the draft NRC, around 3,93,975 did not submit claims.
   • Of this group, about 50,695 appeared eligible for inclusion but were left out, according to the petitioner.
2. Incorrect marking of Originally Inhabitants (OI)
   • The Deputy Commissioner of Kamrup reported on June 28, 2019, that 64,247 applicants were marked as OI in Chamaria Circle.
   • Verification later revealed that 14,183 of them were not eligible.
   • Special verification of 30,791 persons found 7,446 ineligible, including declared foreigners, descendants of foreigners, doubtful voters, and persons with pending Foreigners Tribunal cases.
3. Absence of speaking orders
   • During claims and objections, 5,06,140 decisions were made by Disposing Officers (DOs).
   • Yet only 4,148 decisions were backed by speaking orders.
   • Shockingly, names of 43,642 persons shifted from ‘reject’ to ‘accept’, while 4,62,498 shifted from ‘accept’ to ‘reject’, all without hearings or speaking orders.
4. Errors in Family Tree Matching
   • A sample check indicated that 943 names were wrongly entered in the draft NRC due to flawed family tree matching.
   • This suggested a high error rate and absence of adequate quality control mechanisms.
5. Financial irregularities
   • The CAG report (year ending March 31, 2020) flagged irregularities worth ₹260 crore.
   • It recommended fixing accountability on the then State NRC Coordinator.

Supporting documents cited

The plea relies on:

• Letters issued by the State Coordinator, NRC Assam
• Reports of verification teams
• Communications from IT vendor Bohniman Systems Pvt. Ltd.
• Findings of a cyber security consultant concerning safeguards for NRC data.

Prayer before the Court

The petitioner urges the Court to direct a fresh reverification of the draft NRC and supplementary list, arguing that large-scale errors and systemic lapses have compromised the exercise and risk undermining the integrity of the final NRC.

The plea is filed through Senior Advocate Manish Goswami and Advocate-on-Record Rameshwar Prasad Goyal.

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