All Assam Ahom Association Represented By Its President Mr. Jnanandan Phukan vs. Union Of India Represented By The Secretary

S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO(S). 562/2012

ASSAM SANMILITA MAHASANGHA & ORS. PETITIONER(S)

VERSUS

UNION OF INDIA & ORS. RESPONDENT(S) [WITH APPLN.(S) FOR STAY, IMPLEADMENT AS PARTY RESPONDENT AND DIRECTIONS AND EARLY HEARING AND CLARIFICATION/MODIFICATION OF COURT'S ORDER AND OFFICE REPORT] WITH W.P.(C) NO. 876/2014 (WITH APPLN.(S) FOR STAY AND OFFICE REPORT) W.P.(C) NO. 274/2009 (WITH APPLN.(S) FOR DIRECTIONS AND OFFICE REPORT) W.P.(C) NO. 311/2015 (WITH APPLN.(S) FOR IMPLEADMENT AND SEEKING LEAVE TO FILE WRITTEN ARGUMENTS AND OFFICE REPORT) W.P.(C) NO. 450/2015 (WITH APPLN.(S) FOR DIRECTIONS) W.P.(C) NO. 449/2015 (WITH APPLN.(S) FOR DIRECTIONS AND OFFICE REPORT) W.P.(C) NO. 867/2015 (WITH APPLN.(S) FOR EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T. AND STAY AND OFFICE REPORT) Date : 13/01/2016 These petitions were called on for hearing today. CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RANJAN GOGOI HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ROHINTON FALI NARIMAN Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by Vinod Lakhina Date: 2016.01.14 17:47:10 IST Reason:

Page No.1 of 7

WP(C) 867/15 Mr. Gaurav Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Satpal Singh, Adv. For Respondent(s) Mr. Anjani Kumar Mishra, AOR Mr. Avijit Bhattacharjee, AOR Ms. Upma Shrivastava, Adv. Mr. B. Krishna Prasad, AOR Mr. Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, AOR Mr. Abdul Qadir, Adv. Mr. Asif, Adv. State of Tripura Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR Mr. Rituraj Biswas, Adv. Ms. Varsha Poddar, Adv. Mr. Mohan Pandey, AOR Election Comm. Mr. Ashok Desai, Sr. Adv. Ms. Meenakshi Arora, Sr. Adv. Mr. S.K. Mendiratta, Adv. Mr. Mohit D. Ram, AOR State of UP Mr. Vibhu Tiwari, Adv. Mr. Ravi Prakash Mehrotra, AOR Mr. Shadan Farasat, AOR Mr. Shakil Ahmed Syed, AOR Page No.2 of 7 Mr. A.V. Manavalan, Adv. Ms. Minati Rani Mohapatra, Adv. Mr. Shibashish Misra, AOR Mr. Shreekant N. Terdal, AOR Mr. Milan Laskar, Adv. Mr. Mir Imtiyaz, Adv. Mr. Parvez Dabas, Adv. Mr. Syed Mehdi Imam, AOR Mr. Prateek Jalan, Adv. Ms. Malvika Trivedi, Adv. Mr. Rahul Kriplani, Adv. Mr. Ankit Yadav, Adv. Mr. T. Mahipal, AOR State of Assam Mr. Raju Ramchandran, Sr. Adv. Mr. Jaideep Gupta, Sr. Adv. Ms. Krishna Sarma,AAG Mr. Avijit Roy, Adv. Mr. Navnit Kumar, Adv. Ms. Kankana Arandhara, Adv. For M/s Corporate Law Group, AOR State of West Bengal Mr. Soumitra G. Chaudhuri, Adv. Mr. Parijat Sinha, Adv. Gauhati HC Ms. Sneha Kalita, AOR

Mr. P.S. Patwalia, ASG

Page No.4 of 7 Mr. Snehasish Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Ananga Bhattacharyya, AOR Mr. Mukund P., Adv. State of Bihar Mr. Rudreshwar Singh, Adv. Mr. Gautam Singh, Adv. WP 867/15 Dr. Sumant Bharadwaj, Adv. Mr. Aviral Saxena, Adv. Mr. I.P. Singh, Adv. Ms. Mridula Ray Bharadwaj, Adv. Mr. Ashim Chamuah, Adv. Mr. Chandan Kumar, Adv. UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R W.P.(C) NO.867 OF 2015

The present writ petition No.867 of 2015 is de-tagged/released from the present group. W.P.(C) NO.562/2012

Having heard Shri Ashok Desai, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the Election Commission and Shri Raju Ramchandran, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the State of Assam we reiterate our previous order which is to the effect that the preparation/upgradation of the work of NRC would be of top most priority and the officials and employees of the State Government currently engaged in the preparation of the NRC would be primarily and principally engaged with the said work. However, without affecting the

Page No.5 of 7 primacy and priority to the upgradation work of the NRC such officers would also attend to other duties as prayed for by the State of Assam and to election duties as prayed for by the Election Commission. We also make it clear that in the event the Deputy Commissioners of the Districts feel the necessity it will be open for them to assign the other duties of the office as well as the work in connection with the forthcoming elections to the State Assembly to one or more of his Additional Deputy Commissioners as may be deemed necessary. Beyond the above, we do not consider it necessary to modify our previous order dated 1 st December, 2015.

I.A. Nos. 22 and 23 are disposed of accordingly. We have interacted with Shri Prateek Hajela, State Coordinator for the preparation of NRC, who has apprised the Court of the stage of the on-going process and the difficulties that are being faced by him. Specifically, Shri Hajela has drawn the attention of the Court to the fact that the authorities engaged in preparation/upgradation of the NRC work are required to verify a large number of PAN cards, Electoral Rolls, Passport, etc. Shri Hajela has submitted if the requisite data base is provided by the concerned Authorities it will expedite the process. We, accordingly, direct the

Page No.6 of 7 concerned Authorities in the Finance and Home Ministries of the Government of India as also the Ministry of External Affairs to provide the requisite data base to the State Coordinator forthwith so that the process of verification can be carried out without any impediment. Shri Hajela has also drawn the attention of the Court to the fact that a large number of documents have been sent to all the States, particularly, the States of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan for verification and the response of all the States are awaited. We direct all the States in the Union, particularly, the States mentioned above, to expedite the process of sending response to the State Coordinator immediately. The State Coordinator is permitted to interact with the Chief Secretary of each of the States to which the documents have been sent for effective response thereto.

List all these cases again on 17th February, 2016 at

3.00 p.m. on which date we request the State Coordinator to

be present in person.

[VINOD LAKHINA] [ASHA SONI] COURT MASTER COURT MASTER

Page No.7 of 7