In Re Section 6a Of The Citizenship Act 1955 vs. Union Of India Ministry Of Home Affairs Secretary
AI Summary
The Supreme Court, while closely monitoring the crucial National Register of Citizens (NRC) updation in Assam, expressed grave concern over widespread delays caused by poor response from state, central, and international agencies. The Court issued stern directives to ensure swift document verification and fund allocation, underscoring the urgency of this high-stakes process for millions.
Case Identifiers
Petitioner's Counsel
Respondent's Counsel
eCourtsIndia AITM
Brief Facts Summary
The Supreme Court convened to monitor the NRC updation in Assam. The State Coordinator reported that out of 3,05,995 documents sent for inter-state verification, only 8,223 responses (2.69%) were received. Similarly, for 402 documents sent for inter-country verification, only 19 responses (4.73%) were received. A critical issue highlighted was the Election Commission of India's failure to provide any response for 10,83,919 verification requests. The Ministry of Finance also had pending responses for 8.37 lakh PAN Cards. Furthermore, Rs. 337.73 crores out of a total Rs. 908.87 crores allocated for the project had been utilized, and further approvals for funds were awaited.
Timeline of Events
Project Coordinator personally visited the office of Election Commission of India at New Delhi to discuss verification issues.
Project Coordinator sent officers to the Election Commission of India for follow-up on verification.
Date of the State Coordinator's report detailing verification progress and pending responses.
Date of hearing where the Supreme Court reviewed the report and issued directions.
Next date for the Bench to assemble and monitor progress.
Key Factual Findings
Out of 3,05,995 documents sent to 28 States for verification, only 8,223 (2.69%) have been received back after due verification.
Source: Recited from Project Coordinator's Report
Out of 402 documents sent to foreign countries for verification, only 19 (4.73%) have been received back.
Source: Recited from Project Coordinator's Report
Despite 10,83,919 records sent to the Election Commission of India for verification, not a single response has been received.
Source: Recited from Project Coordinator's Report
Responses for approximately 8.37 lakh PAN Cards are still awaited from the Ministry of Finance.
Source: Recited from Project Coordinator's Report
An amount of Rs. 337.73 crores released by the Government of India for NRC updation has been utilized, and approvals for the remaining funds out of a total of Rs. 908.87 crores are awaited.
Source: Recited from Project Coordinator's Report
Primary Legal Issues
Secondary Legal Issues
Petitioner's Arguments
Though not explicitly presented as arguments in this procedural order, the petitioner's implicit argument is for the timely, efficient, and accurate completion of the NRC updation process to resolve citizenship issues in Assam.
Respondent's Arguments
The State Coordinator reported significant ground-level difficulties and 'abysmally poor' response rates from various government bodies in India and abroad for document verification. The Additional Solicitor General (ASG) assured the Court that the matter of fund release would be taken up with relevant ministries.
Court's Reasoning
The Court observed that the reported figures indicated an 'abysmally poor' response rate from various states and central agencies (Election Commission, Ministry of Finance), leading to severe impediments and delays in the NRC updation. Recognizing the critical importance of the project, the Court found it necessary to issue direct and stern orders to ensure immediate and satisfactory compliance, emphasizing that non-compliance could result in personal appearances of Chief Secretaries.
- Emphasis on Executive Accountability
- Proactive Judicial Oversight
- Expeditious Justice
- Pragmatic Governance
Specific Directions
- 1.Chief Secretaries of the 28 States to immediately respond to the Project Coordinator regarding document verification.
- 2.Ministry of External Affairs to take up the matter with concerned foreign governments through Indian Missions to ensure necessary response for inter-country verification.
- 3.Secretary, Election Commission of India to forthwith respond and make available requisite information to the Project Coordinator.
- 4.Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, to look into the matter and make available the response for the remaining PAN Cards without delay.
- 5.Secretaries of both the Ministries of Home and Finance to ensure requisite funds are made available from time to time for the updation of the NRC, Assam.
Precedential Assessment
Non-Binding (Procedural)
This is a supervisory and procedural order focused on monitoring and expediting an ongoing administrative process, rather than establishing new legal principles. However, its strong directives demonstrate the Supreme Court's commitment to ensuring compliance and accountability in such critical national projects.
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Order Issued After Hearing
Purpose:
Case Registered
Listed On:
3 Jul 2009
Original Order Copy
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Order Text
ITEM NO.301 COURT NO.6 SECTION X/PIL(W)
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 562/2012
ASSAM SANMILITA MAHASANGHA & ORS. Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. Respondent(s)
(With appln.(s) for directions, early hearing, impleadment as paty respondent, stay and office report)
WITH
W.P.(C) No. 274/2009 (With Office Report)
W.P.(C) No. 311/2015 (With appln.(s) for impleadment, seeking leave to file written arguments and Office Report)
W.P.(C) No. 450/2015 (With appln.(s) for directions and Office Report)
W.P.(C) No. 449/2015 (With appln.(s) for directions and Office Report)
W.P.(C) No. 876/2014 (With appln.(s) for stay and Office Report)
W.P.(C) No. 68/2016 (With Office Report)
Date : 26/10/2016 These petitions were called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RANJAN GOGOI HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ROHINTON FALI NARIMAN
For the parties :
| Mr. Manish Goswami, Adv.<br>Mr. Rameshwar Prasad Goyal,Adv. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma,Adv. | |||
| Mr. Somiran Sharma,Adv. |
Mr. Partha Sil,Adv. Mr. Tavish B. Prasad, Adv. Mr. Manoj Goel, Adv. Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, Adv. Mr. Ananga Bhattacharyya,Adv. Mr. Anjani Kumar Mishra,Adv. Mr. Avijit Bhattacharjee,Adv. Ms. Upma shrivastava, Adv. Mr. Ajoy Ghosh, Adv. Mr. P.S. Patwalia, ASG Mr. Tushar Bakshi, Adv. Ms. Rashmi Malhotra, Adv. Mr. R.M. Bajaj, Adv. Mr. B. Krishna Prasad,Adv. Mr. Abdul Qadir, Adv. Mr. Anas, Adv. Mr. Azizur-Rahman, Adv. Mr. Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi,Adv. Mr. Gopal Singh,Adv. Mr. Rituraj Biswas, Adv. Ms. Varsha Poddar, Adv. Mr. Syed Tanweer ahmad, Adv. Mr. Syed Ali Ahmad, Adv. Mr. S.S. Bandyopadhyay, Adv. Mr. Mohan Pandey,Adv. Mr. Mohit D. Ram,Adv. Mr. Ravi Prakash Mehrotra,Adv. Mr. Rajeev Dubey, Adv. Mr. Shadan Farasat,Adv. Mr. Shakil Ahmed Syed,Adv. Mr. Shibashish Misra,Adv. Mr. Shreekant N. Terdal,Adv. Mr. Somiran Sharma,Adv. Mr. Syed Mehdi Imam,Adv.
Mr. Prateek Jalan, Adv. Ms. Malvika Trivedi, Adv. Mr. Rahul Kriplani, Adv. Mr. Ankit Yadav, Adv. Mr. T. Mahipal,Adv. M/s Corporate Law Group Ms. Sneha Kalita,Adv. Mr. Satyam Jyoti Saikia, Adv. Ms. Sushma Suri,Adv. M/s. MAP & Co. Mr. Anip Sachthey,Adv. Mr. G.S. Chatterjee, Adv. Mr. Snehshish Mukherjee, Adv. Mr. Chandra Bhushan Prasad, Adv. Mr. Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, Adv. Mr. B. Balaji, Adv. Ms. Prachi Mishra, Adv. Ms. Sylona Mohapatra, Adv. Mr. Sandeepan Pathak, Adv. Mr. Udit Arora, Adv. Mr. C.D. Singh, Adv. Mr. C.K. Sasi, Adv. Mr. M. Krishnan, Adv. Mr. D.S. Mahra, Adv. Mr. Guntur Prabhakra, Adv. Mr. S.K. Pabbi, AAG Mr. Shivendu Gaur, Adv. Ms. Disha Shingh, Adv. Mr. Ajay K. Singh, Adv. Mr. Kuldip Singh, Adv. Mr. Milind Kumar, Adv. Mr. Nirnimesh Dube, Adv. Mr. Soumitra G. Chaudhuri, Adv. Mr. Parijat Sinha, Adv.
Mr. Somnath Banerjee, Adv. Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, Adv. Mr. Rudreshwar Singh, Adv. Mr. Gopal Jha, Adv. Mr. Gautam Singh, Adv. Mr. Samir Ali Khan, Adv. Mr. Tapesh Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. V.N. Raghupathy, Adv. Ms. Aruna Mathur, Adv. Mr. Yusuf Khan, Adv. Mr. Avneesh Arputham, Adv. Ms. Anuradha Arputham, Adv. For M/s. Arputham Aruna & Co. Mr. K.V. Jagdishvaran, Adv. Ms. G. Indira, Adv. Ms. Hemantika Wahi, Adv. Ms. Puja Singh, Adv. Ms. Aagam Kaur, Adv. Ms. Mamta Singh, Adv. Mr. Edward Belho,AAG Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. K. Luikang Michael, Adv. Mr. Elix Gangmei, Adv. Ms. Liz Mathew, Adv. Mr. Ashutosh Kumar Sharma, Adv. Ms. Rachna Srivastava, Adv. Mr. S.S. Shamshery, AAG Mr. Amit Sharma, Adv. Mr. Prateek Yadav, Adv. Mr. Ankit Raj, Adv. Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv. UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R
The Bench has assembled today for the purpose of monitoring the progress of the work
relating to updating of the NRC, Assam.
Shri Prateek Hajela, State Coordinator for National Registration (NRC) has submitted a report indicating the progress achieved in the ground and the difficulties faced by him in the course of the ongoing exercise undertaken.
We have heard him in-person. We have also interacted with Shri P.S. Patwalia, learned Additional Solicitor General.
From the report of the Project Coordinator filed before the Court it appears that a large number of documents which have been sent for verification to other States, response whereto have not been received. The details in this regard are enclosed in a compilation annexed as Annexure-A to the report, which is extracted below :
| Interstate Verification Progress as on 24-10-2016 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sl.No. | Name of State/UT | Documents<br>sent | Results<br>Received | Percentage<br>(%) | Yes | |
| 1 | Andhra Pradesh | 353 | 3 | 0.85% | - | |
| 2 | Arunachal Pradesh | 37,286 | 378 | 1.01% | 369 | |
| 3 | Bihar | 36,830 | - | 0.00% | - | |
| 4 | Chandigarh (U.T.) | 2 | 2 | 100.00% | 2 | |
| 5 | Delhi | 3,575 | 4 | 0.11% | 4 | |
| 6 | Gujarat | 207 | 107 | 51.69% | 105 | |
| 7 | Haryana | 611 | 172 | 28.15% | 158 |
| 8 | Himachal Pradesh | 1 | 1 | 100.00% | 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Jammu & Kashmir | 152 | - | 0.00% | - |
| 10 | Jharkhand | 703 | 50 | 7.11% | 15 |
| 11 | Karnataka | 966 | 132 | 13.66% | 105 |
| 12 | Kerala | 102 | 2 | 1.96% | 2 |
| 13 | Madhya Pradesh | 205 | - | 0.00% | - |
| 14 | Maharashtra | 1,515 | 295 | 19.47% | 98 |
| 15 | Manipur | 6,902 | 103 | 1.49% | 103 |
| 16 | Meghalaya | 39,138 | 540 | 1.38% | 221 |
| 17 | Mizoram | 2,453 | 345 | 14.06% | 249 |
| 18 | Nagaland | 58,842 | 2,600 | 4.42% | 2,418 |
| 19 | Odisha | 150 | 47 | 31.33% | 44 |
| 20 | Punjab | 552 | 93 | 16.85% | 86 |
| 21 | Rajasthan | 7,209 | 1,136 | 15.76% | 969 |
| 22 | Sikkim | 51 | 47 | 92.16% | 43 |
| 23 | Tamil Nadu | 101 | 1 | 0.99% | 1 |
| 24 | Telengana | 5 | - | 0.00% | - |
| 25 | Tripura | 29,058 | 1,550 | 5.33% | 588 |
| 26 | Uttarakhand | 104 | 1 | 0.96% | 1 |
| 27 | Uttar Pradesh | 7,925 | 573 | 7.23% | 308 |
| 28 | West Bengal | 70,997 | 41 | 0.06% | 39 |
| Total | 3,05,995 | 8,223 | 2.69% | 5,929 |
The figures indicated above shows that out of 3,05,995 documents sent to 28 States, only 8,223 documents have been received back after due verification.
In the above circumstances, we direct the Chief Secretaries of the 28 States, mentioned in the extract above, to immediately respond in the matter and send to the Project Coordinator the response in respect of the documents pertaining to the respective States after due verification.
We would expect the Chief Secretaries of the States to act in the matter with utmost dispatch and we also make it clear that in the event the response of the Chief Secretaries in terms of the order is not satisfactory or adequate, orders may be issued for their personal appearance before this Court.
Similarly some documents have been sent to certain foreign countries for due verification. Response thereto have not been received. The details in this regard are stated in a compilation annexed to the report as Annexure-B, which is extracted below:
| Intercountry Verification Status as on 24-10-2016 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sl.<br>No. | Country Name | Documents<br>sent for<br>verification | Results<br>Received | % of docs<br>verified | |
| 1 | USA | 109 | 0.00% | ||
| 2 | Nepal | 62 | 0.00% |
| 3 | UAE | 50 | 0.00% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Saudi Arabia | 32 | 0.00% | |
| 5 | UK | 31 | 0.00% | |
| 6 | Kuwait | 15 | 15 | 100.00% |
| 7 | Singapore | 15 | 1 | 6.67% |
| 8 | Canada | 11 | 0.00% | |
| 9 | Myanmar | 10 | 0.00% | |
| 10 | Bangladesh | 6 | 0.00% | |
| 11 | Malaysia | 5 | 0.00% | |
| 12 | Qatar | 5 | 0.00% | |
| 13 | Bahrain | 5 | 0.00% | |
| 14 | Oman | 5 | 0.00% | |
| 15 | Thailand | 4 | 0.00% | |
| 16 | Japan | 4 | 0.00% | |
| 17 | Pakistan | 3 | 0.00% | |
| 18 | South Africa | 3 | 3 | 100.00% |
| 19 | Hong Kong | 2 | 0.00% | |
| 20 | Indonesia | 2 | 0.00% | |
| 21 | Vietnam | 2 | 0.00% | |
| 22 | Sri Lanka | 2 | 0.00% | |
| 23 | Tanzania | 2 | 0.00% | |
| 24 | Australia | 2 | 0.00% | |
| 25 | Netherlands | 2 | 0.00% | |
| 26 | South Korea | 2 | 0.00% | |
| 27 | China | 1 | 0.00% | |
| 28 | Ghana | 1 | 0.00% | |
| 29 | Taiwan | 1 | 0.00% |
| 30 | Mozambique | 1 | 0.00% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | Trinidad & Tobago | 1 | 0.00% | |
| 32 | Germany | 1 | 0.00% | |
| 33 | Cyprus | 1 | 0.00% | |
| 34 | Norway | 1 | 0.00% | |
| 35 | Mauritius | 1 | 0.00% | |
| 36 | Sweden | 1 | 0.00% | |
| 37 | Bhutan | 1 | 0.00% | |
| Total | 402 | 19 | 4.73% |
We direct the Ministry of External Affairs to take up the matter with the concerned Governments of the Countries, mentioned in the extract above, through the Indian Missions located in the said Countries and ensure that the necessary response is made available to the Project Coordinator as expeditiously as possible.
In paragraph 3 of the report of the State Coordinator, it has been stated that 10,83,919 numbers of documents have been sent to the Election Commission of India and despite several visits of the Project Coordinator to the office of the Election Commission in New Delhi and notwithstanding the several reminders issued, not a single response has been received from the Election
Commission.
Paragraph 3 of the report is extracted below to indicate the extent of what appears to be a lack of concern on the part of the Election Commission in the matter:-
"It is humbly submitted that the response received from the Election Commission of India (ECI) has been abysmally poor. Whereas 10,83,919 lakhs of records were sent for verification, an response is yet to be received. In this regards, it is humbly submitted that the undersigned had personally visited the office of ECI at New Delhi on 29th January 2016 to discuss on the issue and had also sent officers on 2nd February 2016. Letters have also been written for following up but no response has yet been received. As Electoral Rolls constitute a substantial percentage of documents submitted by NRC applicants, non receipt of results from ECI is a matter of concern and also threatens to cause delays in completion of the verification process. It is humbly requested to consider issuing of a directive to ECI in this regards."
We direct the Secretary, Election Commission of India to forthwith respond in the matter and make available the requisite information to the Project Coordinator so that no impediment is caused in the work of updation of the NRC, Assam.
In paragraphs 4 and 5 of the report, it has been stated that as against 14.87 lakhs numbers of PAN Cards sent for verification, results in respect
of 6.5 lakhs PAN Cards have been received from the Ministry of Finance and the response as regards the rest of PAN Cards are awaited.
We direct the Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Government of India to look into the matter and the response in respect of the remaining PAN Cards be made available to the Project Coordinator without any delay.
In paragraph 10 of the report of the Project Coordinator, it has been submitted that an amount of Rs.337.73 crores released by the Government of India has already been utilized and that required approvals for the remaining amount out of a total of 908.87 crores may be expedited.
Shri Patwalia, learned Additional Solicitor General has assured the Court that he will take up the matter with the concerned authority of the Ministry of Home and Ministry of Finance.
We direct the Secretaries of both the Ministries of Home and Finance to ensure that requisite funds are made available so that no impediment is caused in the work of updation of the NRC, Assam. The concerned Ministries may release necessary funds from time to time. Such release may
also be in the nature of interim payments.
We hope and trust that the directions above will be implemented by all concerned authorities without any delay.
The Bench will assemble again on 15th December, 2016 at 3.00 p.m. to, once again, monitor the progress made in the updation of the NRC, Assam.
Registry is directed to list the case accordingly.
(Neetu Khajuria) Court Master
(Asha Soni) Court Master