GUWAHATI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday, July 21, issued notices to the Centre, the Assam government and the office of the State NRC Coordinator on a petition seeking the immediate commencement of the appeals process for persons excluded from Assam's final National Register of Citizens (NRC). The plea also sought directions for the issuance of national identity cards to those whose names were included in the final NRC.
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A Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi issued the notices while hearing a petition filed by the Assam State Jamiat Ulama through advocate Talha Abdul Rahman.
During the hearing, counsel for the petitioner argued that lakhs of people excluded from the NRC continue to face uncertainty and hardship as the statutory appeal mechanism has yet to be operationalised.
"There is a provision for filing appeals for those excluded from the NRC, but nothing has happened so far. People continue to suffer because the appeal process has not been initiated," the petitioner's counsel submitted before the court.
The petitioner further informed the Bench that another petition raising similar issues is already pending before the apex court. Taking note of the submission, the Bench tagged the matter with the pending petition after issuing notices to the respondents.
The petition has sought two principal directions from the court. First, it has urged the authorities to immediately operationalise the appeals process for all persons excluded from the final NRC, enabling them to challenge their exclusion before the designated appellate authority. Second, it has sought directions for the immediate issuance of national identity cards to all individuals whose names appear in the final NRC, relying on Section 14A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, read with Rule 13 of the Citizenship Rules, 2003.
The updated final NRC for Assam was published on August 31, 2019. According to the office of the State NRC Coordinator, 3,30,27,661 people applied for inclusion in the register. Of these, 3,11,21,004 were included, while 19,06,657 were excluded from the final list.
The case has been registered as W.P. (C) No. 839/2026 — Assam State Jamiat Ulama vs Union of India & Others.