Legal remedies for around 19 lakh residents left out of the National Register of Citizens in Assam remain completely frozen. The central government has informed the Supreme Court that formal notification of the final citizenship roster has not taken place, which in turn has prevented authorities from distributing the rejection slips necessary to mount legal appeals.
Database Security Stalls Transfer to Registrar General
An affidavit submitted to the top court on behalf of the Registrar General of India outlines the technical and administrative bottlenecks behind this long delay. According to the filing, the state NRC coordinator is still putting together a comprehensive security framework to preserve the massive NRC records safely. Because these protective protocols remain incomplete, the database has not been handed over to the RGI. The RGI can only publish the formal notification once the complete digital archives are officially delivered.
Over 1.9 Million People Stuck Without Formal Proof
When the final NRC roster came out in August 2019, it verified 3.11 crore applicants as valid citizens while omitting 19.07 lakh people from the documentation. The apex court had previously directed the state coordinator to create an effective channel for issuing formal exclusion memos to those left out, allowing them to present their grievances before Foreigners Tribunals. In October 2020, the coordinator told the RGI that delivering these slips is tied directly to the formal notification of the final register, effectively blocking excluded applicants from taking their cases forward.
Court Extends Time for State Response
The bench was addressing petitions filed by groups such as the All Assam Minority Students Union, Assam State Jamiat Ulama, and Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind alongside other stakeholders. The applicants urged the judiciary to direct the immediate handover of rejection slips to excluded individuals and the distribution of official NRC identity cards to approved citizens. After the Assam government requested more time to compile its response, the Supreme Court scheduled the next hearing for November 6.
