National Register of Citizens officials told not to address media
How can officers appointed by the SC talk about something which is to be finalised by us.
Guwahati: The Supreme Court on Tuesday reprimanded the Registrar General of India and the state coordinator of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) for speaking to the media about the process that will be adopted for finalisation of the NRC draft.
Referring to state coordinator Prateek Hajela and registrar general of India Shailesh, Justice Ranjan Gogoi and R F Nariman said, “Get down to work for finalisation of the NRC and never speak to media on this issue without the prior permission of the apex court. How can officers appointed by the SC talk about something which is to be finalised by us.”
The apex court warned that it would have initiated contempt proceedings against Hajela and Shailesh had the task of finalisation of the NRC not been urgently at hand. The apex court in its earlier hearings had directed the ministry of home affairs and NRC authorities to prepare and place standard operating procedure to deal with claims of those excluded from NRC before SC on August 16.