The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday came down heavily on the Ministry
of Home Affairs (MHA) accusing it of destroying the whole process of National Register of Citizen (NRC).
The apex court also criticized the MHA for its plea to stall the NRC work due to the coming general election.
Reiterating that July 31 deadline for the completion of NRC work will not be extended, a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said the Centre is not cooperating in the NRC process and it seems the entire effort of the MHA is to destroy the NRC process.
“The
Home Ministry wants to destroy this whole process of NRC. Since the
inception, Union of India is not cooperating. One excuse or the other is
given every time,” said CJI Gogoi.
He expressed disappointment with the non cooperative attitude of the central government.
During
Tuesday’s hearing, the Centre wanted suspension of NRC process for 2
weeks more weeks citing the coming general election. However, court
refused to give more time.
The election commissioner has been
directed to oversee the concern regarding exemption of certain officers
like district magistrate and additional magistrate.
The matter will again come up for hearing in the first week of March.
