Assam NRC only draft list, no action against those left out: SC to Centre

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that the National Register of Citizen or NRC list released in Assam on Monday is only a draft and no coercive action can be taken against those whose names are not there in it.

The court said fair procedure will be adopted to settle all claims and objections and directed the Centre to frame standard operating procedure (SOP) to deal with them.

The court also asked the Centre to place SOP before it by August 16 for approval and said people should be given reasonable opportunity to contest exclusion.

On Monday, Assam had released the draft of NRC in the state on Monday. 2,89,83, 677 (two crore eighty nine lakhs, eighty three thousand six hundred and seventy seven) people have been found eligible Indian citizens among 3.29 crore total applicants.

Also Read: 40 lakh left out of draft list of NRC in Assam, no threat of deportation

The draft list of citizens sparked protests in parliament on Tuesday.

The draft list will be made public on August 7 and those not on it canfile claims and objections from August 30 to September 28, the Supreme Court said.