Delay finger at Bengal over Assam register

Pankaj Sarma, TT,  Jan 05, 2018, Guwahati: Bengal has so far verified only 5,852 of the 111,482 documents sent by the National Register of Citizens authorities in Assam, an official source in the northeastern state has said.

Several other states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya and Manipur too have heavy verification backlogs, 15 months after a Supreme Court nudge to all states for prompt verifications.

The National Register of Citizens (NRC), prepared in 1951, is being updated in Assam over the past many months to identify illegal immigrants. It's a category that will include all who fail to prove they or their ancestors have been living in Assam or any other part of India since March 24, 1971, or earlier.

"Despite several reminders, the Bengal government is yet to verify over one lakh documents," an official source in Assam told The Telegraph. "We wanted to send one of our officials to follow it up with the Bengal government, but they are yet to give us an appointment."

Of the 3.29 crore applicants, only 1.9 crore have been included in the first draft of the updated NRC, published on December 31 midnight. Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee cited the gap this week to allege that Assam's BJP government was conspiring to drive Bengalis out, a charge rejected by Assam and the Centre.

Sources in Assam said many of the applicants could not be included in the first draft because the verification of their documents was still pending. Altogether 5.5 lakh documents were sent to other states for verification, in various lots, in 2016-17.

A senior official in Calcutta said the Bengal government sent the documents it regularly received from Assam to the district magistrates for verification.

"The district magistrates do it just like they conduct other verification cases," he said.

He said Assam could not blame Bengal's delay over 1 lakh verifications for the "omission of more than 1 crore people".

"There may be other faults in the exercise. Bengal is doing what it should through the proper process."

The documents sent to the various states for verification included birth certificates, educational certificates, land records, court papers and permanent residence certificates, among others, issued by those states. Given that different departments would be involved in the verification process, the documents were sent directly to the states' chief secretaries.

Each of these states has appointed a nodal officer to coordinate with NRC authorities. "Bengal's officer has retired; his successor does not even take our calls," a source in Assam said.

He added: "Of the 21,000 documents sent to Uttar Pradesh, only 2,380 have been verified so far. Bihar has verified 3,880 of 66,000 documents; Meghalaya has verified 6,000 of 74,000 documents and Manipur, only 486 of 16,574."

In contrast, of the 33,787 documents sent to the Central Board of Secondary Education, only 8,000 remain to be verified. The Board of Secondary Education, Assam, has verified all but 7,000 of the 20.9 lakh documents sent to it.

Prateek Hajela, Assam coordinator of the NRC, said the matter of tardy verification had been taken up with the states concerned and the Centre.

On October 26, 2016, the Supreme Court had directed all chief secretaries to respond promptly to Assam's request for document verification after Hajela outlined the progress of the NRC update and the difficulties it was facing. The Registrar-General of India too made a similar request.

The apex court had said: "We also make clear that in the event the response of the chief secretaries in terms of the order is not satisfactory or adequate, orders may be issued for their personal appearance before this court."

Additional reporting by our Calcutta bureau