What happened: Supreme Court seeks replies on NRC-linked identity cards

The Supreme Court sought responses from the Union government and the State of Assam on petitions seeking issuance of identity cards to persons included in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) of August 2019. The Supreme Court Bench comprised Justices P.S. Narasimha and Alok Aradhe and asked for replies in response to petitions filed by Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, the Assam Sankhyalaghu Sangram Parishad, and others.

Reported submissions included the following claims by counsel: - Kapil Sibal, appearing for Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, said the Union government and the State of Assam had not responded despite the Supreme Court issuing notice. - Manish Goswami, appearing for former NRC coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma, argued that inaccuracies existed in the NRC list and requested re-verification. - The petitions alleged that the appeals process had not begun for persons excluded from the NRC.

The petitions describe follow-up steps as stalled, with emphasis on issuance of national identity cards to persons included in the NRC list. Another petition from the Assam State Jamiat Ulama, represented by senior advocate M.R. Shamshad, stated that issuance remained pending and that the process had not moved forward.

Key figures mentioned in the NRC identity-card dispute

The petitions cite the following figures linked to identity-card issuance and NRC outcomes: - More than 3.11 crore persons named in the NRC list of August 2019 had not received national identity cards. - Around 19 lakh persons were excluded from the NRC register.

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