SC Rejects 1951 Please before NRC

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a petition seeking early hearing of a constitution bench in regard to 1951 base year for detection of foreigners in Assam.

The petition filed by the Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha (ASM), a confederation of the indigenous people of Assam, which has been fighting a legal battle in the Supreme Court on the validity of Section 6 (A) of the Citizenship Act.

In its petition, the ASM asked the apex court to form a constitution bench on the validity of Section 6 (A) of the Citizenship Act, 1955. Earlier, the Confederation filed a writ petition and asked the Supreme Court to direct the Assam government not to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) by taking into account the electoral rolls prior to March 24 (midnight) 1971.

The SC decision did not go well for the Petitioner who has been waiting for several years for hearing to begin. The SC yet to constitute the Constitution Bench and this has angered the petitioner who alleged that proposed NRC shall have no meanings as the base year for that is contentious.

The NRC is prepared on the basis of 1971 as the cut off year but the Petitioner wanted it 1951 with the reasoning that rest of India has 1951 as the cut off year for being a citizen.