Assam NRC: Rejection slips for 1.9 million excluded people not yet issued

The Indian government has informed the Supreme Court that the process of issuing rejection slips to approximately 1.9 million people excluded from Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) has not yet begun. This delay is attributed to the fact that the final NRC has not been formally notified.

In an affidavit, the Registrar General of India stated that the state NRC coordinator is currently developing a “security regime” to preserve NRC data. Until this regime is enacted and the data is handed over to the Registrar General, the final NRC cannot be officially notified.

The Supreme Court had previously directed the state coordinator to create a mechanism for issuing these slips, which would allow excluded individuals to challenge their status in foreigners tribunals. The matter has been deferred until November 6 following a request from the Assam government for more time to respond. The legal proceedings stem from petitions filed by groups including the Assam State Jamiat Ulama and the All Assam Minority Students Union.