ASSAM PUBLIC WORKS versus UNION OF INDIA & ORS. on 13 August 2019

ASSAM PUBLIC WORKS

v.

UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

(Writ Petition (C) No. 274 of 2009)

AUGUST 13, 2019

[RANJAN GOGOI, CJI AND R. F. NARIMAN, J.]

Citizenship Act, 1955: ss.3, 6 – State of Assam – Report ofState Coordinator – Action proposed in Paragraph 7(a) that forany NRC Applications/Claimants, if parent/legacy person throughwhom eligibility is sought to be established is a DV or DF or PFT,then such persons will not be included in NRC irrespective of thestatus of the other parent – Challenged on the ground that the saidaction ran contrary to the provisions of s.3(1)(a) of the Act whichdealt with acquisition of citizenship by birth in the case of everyperson born in India on or after the 26.1.1950 but before 1.7.1987– Held: The purport and effect of provisions of s.3(1)(a) and (b) ofthe Act is pending consideration before a Constitution Bench ofthis court in Writ Petition (c) No.311 of 2015 – The issue pending iswhether the expression “every person born in India” would applyonly to persons born to Indian citizens and whether the expression“either of whose parents is a citizen of India at the time of his birth”in s.3(1)(b) of the Act would apply to only a person who is born toparents one of whom is a citizen and the other a foreigner, providedhe or she has entered India lawfully and his/her stay in India is notin contravention of applicable Indian laws.

Citizenship Act, 1955: State of Assam – Report of StateCoordinator – Actions proposed in Paragraph 7(b) and 7(c) thatthose persons born before 3.12.2004, if the parent through whomlegacy is drawn is not DV or DF or PFT and is found eligible forinclusion in NRC, but the other parent from whom legacy is notdrawn is a DV or DF or PFT, then, such descendants may be includedin NRC; and those persons who are born on or after 3.12. 2004,they will not be included in NRC if any of the parent is DV or DF orPFT even if the parent from whom legacy is drawn is clear from allangles – The suggestions/prayers made in paragraph 7(b) and (c)

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Aof Report dated 10.7.2019 of the State Coordinator are inconsonance with the provisions of s.3(1)(b) and (c) of the Act andthe Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) for disposal of claims andobjections – Therefore, there is no reason to refuse leave to theState Coordinator to act in terms of the action proposed in the saidsuggestions/prayers made in Paragraph 7(b) and (c) subject to suchBorders that this Court may pass in Writ Petition (c) No.311 of 2015– Moreover, as suggested by the State Coordinator, the issue raisedcould be best decided by the Tribunal, if so required as and whenappeals are filed.

Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of NationalCIdentity Cards) Rules, 2003 – rr.4A, 6A – r.4A of the 2003 Rulescarves out special provisions in the matter of preparation of NationalRegister of Indian Citizens in the State of Assam – r.4A(2) specificallyprovides that the National Register of Indian Citizens in the State ofAssam shall be prepared by inviting applications from all the residentsDcalling for specified particulars relating to each family andindividual including the citizenship status based on the NationalRegister of Citizens 1951 and the electoral rolls upto the midnightof 24.3.1971 – The special provision contained in r.4A of the 2003Rules read with the Schedule framed thereunder, for preparation ofNational Register of Indian Citizens in the State of Assam, had beenEnecessitated on account of the provisions contained in s.6A of theAct which are special provisions as to grant citizenship to personscovered by the Assam Accord – Under s.6A(2) of the Act, all personsof Indian origin who had come to the State of Assam before 1.1.1966from the specified territory (defined as territories included inFBangladesh) immediately before the commencement of theCitizenship (Amendment) Act, 1985, including such persons whosenames were included in the electoral rolls for purposes of theGeneral Election to the House of the People held in 1967, and whohave been ordinarily resident in Assam since the dates of their entry into Assam are deemed to be citizens of India as on and from 1.1.1966G– Person(s) who had entered Assam between 1.1.1966 but beforethe 25.3.1971 and who has been ordinarily resident in Assam, uponbeing detected as a foreigner(s), was/were liable to register himself/themselves in accordance with the Rules made by the CentralGovernment – On such registration, under s.6A(4) of the Act, suchHa person would have the same rights and obligations as a Citizen of India; but for a period of ten years he/she shall not be entitled tohave his/her name included in any electoral roll – s.6A of the Actwhich was inserted with effect from 7.12.1985 by the Citizenship(Amendment) Act, 1985 (Act No.65 of 1985), thus, carves out aspecial category of citizens in the State of Assam – The entire NRCexercise having been performed on the aforesaid basis, the samecannot be now ordered to be reopened by initiation of a fresh exerciseon certain other parameters that have been suggested on behalf ofthe intervenors/applicants on the strength of the provisions ofs.3(1)(a) of the Act – Citizenship Act, 1955 – ss.3, 6.

National Register of Citizens: Prayer of the State Coordinatorwith regard to maintenance of security of the NRC data – This Courtdirected that an appropriate regime be enacted on lines similar tothe security regime provided for AADHAR data – Only thereafter,the list of inclusions and exclusions shall be made available to theState Government, Central Government and Registrar General ofIndia – Further it was directed that only hard-copies of thesupplementary list of inclusions be published at the NRC SevaCenters, Circle Offices and Offices of the District Magistrates ofthe State – Also direction passed that the list of exclusions to bepublished on 31.8.2019 shall be published only on on-line and shallbe family-wise – So far as the validity of orders passed under theIMDT Act are concerned, such cases shall be governed by thedecision of the Gauhati High Court in Anowar Ali v. State of Assam.

CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Writ Petition (C) No. 274of 2009.

(Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India)

With

I.A. Nos. 114781, 114788, 114807, 114814, 116964, 117074, 117697and 117689 of 2019.

Tushar Mehta, SG, Kapil Sibal, Salman Khurshid, C. U. Singh,B. H. Marlapalle, Vinay Navare, Sr. Advs., Kailash Prashad Pandey,Ms. Shefali Sethi, Ms. Binu Tamta, Ms. Rekha Pandey, Ankur Talwar,Ms. Shraddha Deshmukh, B. Krishna Prasad, B. V. Balaram Das,Shuvodeep Roy, Rajat Nair, Sataroop Das, Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi,Mushtafa Khaddam Hussain, Ibad Mushtaq, Ms. Aditi Gupta,Ms. Tehsina, Ms. Shabeen Anjum, Ms. Lubna Naz, Ms. Kunika, Somesh AB

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AChandra Jha, Ms. Aparna Bhat, Ms. Krishma Maria, A. S. Tapadar, AjitWagh, Mansoor Ali, Ms. Rubina Jawed, Ms. Rashmi Singhania, Ms.Diksha Rai, Ms. Palak Mahajan, Siddhesh Kotwal, Ms. Bansuri Swaraj,Ms. Arshiya Ghose, Divyansh Tiwari, Shourajeet Chakravarty, Ms. AsthaSharma, Amlan Kumar Ghosh, Ms. Jayashree Satpute, Mohit Chaudhary,Ms. Tripti Poddar, Deboji Borkokati, Vivek Shankar, Ms. Malvika Trivedi,BAnkit Yadav, T. Mahipal, Ms. Sneha Kalita, Ms. Jissy Kurian, S. Ahmed,Ms. Arna Das, Gaurav Dhingra, M.C. Dhingra, Ms. Indira K., KrishnaKumar Pandey, Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Mritunjay Kumar Mishra, MohanPandey, G. N. Reddy, Ms. Sujatha Bagadhi, T. Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy,Shibashish Misra, Ms. Madhusmita Bhattacharjee, Shadan Farasat,CSnehasish Mukherjee, Guntur Prabhakar, Mohit D. Ram., AbhijitSengupta, Sanand Ramakrishnan, Avijit Roy, Ms. Rashmi Nandakumar,M/s. Corporate Law Group, Advs. for the appearing parties.

The Order of the Court was passed by

RANJAN GOGOI, CJI.

D1. In our order dated 23[rd] July, 2019 we had extracted paragraphs7 and 8 of the Report of Shri Prateek Hajela, learned State Coordinatordated 10[th] July, 2019. After setting out the contents of aforesaid twoparagraphs of the Report dated 10[th] July, 2019 we had deemed itappropriate to direct the learned State Coordinator to issue a public noticeto enable all stake-holders to appear before this Court, in a representativeEcapacity, to contest the prayers made by the learned State Coordinatorin the aforesaid two paragraphs of the Report dated 10[th] July, 2019, if sodesired. The said two paragraphs read as follows:

“7. Another matter which the undersigned wishes to bring to thekind attention is about such cases of descendants of D Voter (DV)/FDeclared Foreigner (DF)/Cases Pending at Foreigners Tribunals/Other Courts (PFT), whose one parent is DV/DF/PFT but theparent from whom the legacy is drawn for inclusion in NRC is notWP(C) 274/2009 4 DV/DF/PFT and is also found eligible forinclusion in NRC. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in their order of 2GJuly 2018 have ordered that those persons who are DVs or PFTsas well as their descendants are not to be included in updatedNRC. As descendance can be drawn from either of the parents,clarification appears to be required in cases where one of theparents is clear from all angles (not DV/DF/PFT and eligible forNRC inclusion) while the other parent is a DV or DF or PFT. ItHalso appears that while deciding eligibility of descendants, provisions of Section 3(1)(b) & (c) of the Citizenship Act, 1955may be important to be taken into account, though citizenship purelyby birth and not by descendance (Section 3(1)(a) is not eligiblefor inclusion in NRC. It is humbly felt that the sustance of Section3(1)(b) & (c) is that while determining citizenship of anydescendant born up to 3 December, 2004, citizenship eligibility ofany one of the parents suffices, while for those descendants bornon or after 3 December 2004, citizenship eligibility of both theparents needs to be taken into account. From a conjoint readingof Hon’ble Supreme Court’s order dated 2 July 2018 and theprovisions contained in Section 3(1)(b) & (c) of the CitizenshipAct, 1955, the following appears to be the best course of action:

a. For any NRC Applications/Claimants, if parent/legacy personthrough whom eligibility is sought to be established is a DV or DFor PFT, then such persons will not be included in NRC irrespectiveof the status of the other parent.

b. For those persons born before 3 December 2004, if the parentthrough whom legacy is drawn is not DV or DF or PFT and isfound eligible for inclusion in NRC, but the other parent fromwhom legacy is not drawn is a DV or DF or PFT, then, suchdescendants may be included in NRC.

c. For those persons who are born on or after 3 December 2004,they will not be included in NRC if any of the parent is DV or DFor PFT even if the parent from whom legacy is drawn is clearfrom all angles.

In this regard, it is submitted that the aforementioned matter wassubmitted by the deponent before the Judges Committee for opinionbut the Committee advised to seek the order of the Hon’ble Courton the matter. As such the WP(C) 274/2009 5 above is submittedfor kind approval.

8. That the deponent also would like to seek clarification on thematter of validity of orders passed under the Illegal Migrants(Determination by Tribunal) (IMDT) Act. Some of the applicantshave submitted orders passed under IMDT declaring them asIndian. This matter was also referred by the deponent to the JudgesCommittee, however, the Committee advised the deponent to seekorder from the Hon’ble Court on the matter. As such, directions A

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Aare sought about acceptability of orders of IMDT, whetherdeclaring the person to be Indian or Illegal Migrant.”

2. Pursuant to our aforesaid order dated 23[rd] July, 2019, severalInterlocutory Applications (I.As) have been filed contesting the actionproposed under paragraph 7(a) of the said Report dated 10[th] July, 2019Bof the learned State Coordinator primarily on the ground that the saidaction runs contrary to the provisions of Section 3 (1)(a) of the CitizenshipAct, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”) which deals withacquisition of citizenship by birth in the case of every person born inIndia on or after the 26[th] day of January, 1950 but before the 1[st] day ofJuly, 1987.C

3. The aforesaid objection against the prayer made by the learnedState Coordinator is sought to be fortified by reference to the followingstatement contained in the report dated 10[th] July, 2019.

“It also appears that while deciding eligibility of descendants,Dprovisions of Section 3(1)(b) & (c) of the Citizenship Act, 1955may be important to be taken into account, though citizenship purelyby birth and not by descendance (Section 3(1)(a) is not eligible”for inclusion in NRC.

[underlining is ours]

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E4. We have heard the learned counsels for the parties as well asthe learned State Coordinator who is present in Court in person. Thepurport and effect of the provisions of Section 3 (1) (a) and (b) of theAct is presently pending consideration before a Constitution Bench ofthis court in Writ Petition (Civil) No.311 of 2015. Reference to theConstitution Bench was made by the order of this Court dated 21[st] July,F2015 in the said Writ Petition (Civil) No.311 of 2015. The issue pendingis whether the expression “every person born in India” would apply onlyto persons born to Indian citizens and whether the expression “either ofwhose parents is a citizen of India at the time of his birth” in S.3(1)(b) ofthe Citizenship Act, 1955 would apply to only a person who is born toGparents one of whom is a citizen and the other a foreigner, provided heor she has entered India lawfully and his/her stay in India is not incontravention of applicable Indian laws.

5. The suggestions/prayers made in paragraph 7(b) and (c) of theReport dated 10[th] July, 2019 of the learned State Coordinator are inH

consonance with the provisions of Section 3 (1) (b) and (c) of the Actand the Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) for disposal of claims andobjections. Therefore, we find no reason to refuse leave to the learnedState Coordinator to act in terms of the action proposed in the saidsuggestions/prayers made in Paragraph 7(b) and (c) subject to suchorders that this Court may pass in Writ Petition (Civil) No.311 of 2015.Moreover, as suggested by the learned State Coordinator, the issue raisedcould be best decided by the Tribunal, if so required as and when appealsare filed.

6. This will bring the Court to a consideration of the prayers made/suggestions offered by the learned State Coordinator in paragraph 7(a)of the Report dated 10[th] July, 2019 and the objections raised in this regardto the effect that the same overlooks the provisions of Section 3 (1) (a)of the Act.

7. Even though the contours of the provisions of Sections 3 andalso 6A of the Act are pending consideration by the Constitution Benchof this Court in W.P.(C) No.562 of 2012 and W.P.(C) No.311 of 2015,and will be governed by such orders as may be passed, we may, at thisstage, take note of the provisions of Rule 4A the Citizenship (Registrationof Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003 (hereinafterreferred to as “2003 Rules”) which are set out hereunder.

“4A. Special provisions as to National Register of IndianCitizens in the State of Assam—

(1) Nothing in rule 4 shall, on and after the commencement of theCitizenship (Registration of Citizenship and Issue of NationalIdentity Cards) Amendment Rules, 2009, apply to the State ofAssam.

(2) The Central Government shall, for the purpose, of the NationalRegister of Indian Citizens in the State of Assam, cause to carryout throughout the State of Assam for preparation of the NationalRegister of Indian Citizens in the State of Assam by invitingapplications from all the residents, for collection of specifiedparticulars relating to each family and individual, residing in a localarea in the State including the citizenship status based on theNational Register of Citizens 1951, and the electoral rolls up tothe midnight of the 24th day of March, 197l.

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224SUPREME COURT REPORTS

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A(3) The Registrar General of Citizens Registration shall notify theperiod and duration of the enumeration in the Official Gazette.

(4) The manner of preparation of the National Register of IndianCitizens in the State of Assam shall be such as specified in theSchedule appended to these rules.”B8. Rule 4A of the 2003 Rules carves out special provisions in thematter of preparation of National Register of Indian Citizens in the Stateof Assam. The provisions of Rule 4A are a departure to the provisionscontained in Rule 4 of the 2003 Rules which deals with preparation ofNational Register of Indian Citizens in the rest of the country. RuleC4A(2) specifically provides that the National Register of Indian Citizensin the State of Assam shall be prepared by inviting applications from allthe residents calling for specified particulars relating to each family andindividual including the citizenship status based on the National Registerof Citizens 1951 and the electoral rolls upto the midnight of the 24[th] dayof March,1971. The aforesaid two documents have been supplementedDby an additional list of documents, any of which can be utilized by aclaimant in support of his/her claim for inclusion in the NRC that theclaimant or his ancestor had been residing in the State of Assam on orbefore 24[th] March, 1971. The particulars of the documents included areas follows:E“LIST A -LIST OF LEGACY DOCUMENTS ADMISSIBLE

1. Extract of NRC, 1951

2. Extract/certified copy of Electoral Rolls up to the midnightof 24[th] March 1971 (midnight)F3.Land records including tenancy records of relevant period[upto 24[th] March, 1971 (midnight)

4. Citizenship Certificate issued by competent authority (upto24[th] March, 1971 (midnight)

5. Permanent Residential Certificate issued from outside theGState upto 24[th] March, 1971 (midnight) (which all should begot verified from the issuing authority by the Registeringauthority)

6. Refugee registration certificate issued upto 24[th] March, 1971(midnight)H

7. Passport issued by the Government of India upto 24[th] March,1971 (midnight)

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8. Life Insurance Corporation of India Insurance Policy (LICI)of relevant period upto 24[th] March, 1971 (midnight)

9. Any license/certificate issued by any Government authorityBof relevant period i.e. upto 24[th] March, 1971 (midnight)

10. Document showing service/employment under GovernmentPublic Sector Undertaking upto 24[th] March, 1971 (midnight)

11. Bank/Post Office Accounts of relevant period i.e. upto 24[th]March, 1971 (midnight)

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12. Birth certificates issued by the competent authority upto 24[th]March, 1971 (midnight)

13. Educational certificate issued by Board/Universities upto 24[th]March, 1971 (midnight)

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14. Records/processes pertaining to court upto 24[th] March, 1971(midnight)

Supporting Documents

15. Ration cards issued by competent authority with official sealand signature upto 24[th] March, 1971 (midnight)

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Note: Any of the documents specified in the above List ofDocuments would be accepted except Document mentionedagainst Sl. 15 which may be regarded as supportingdocument only.”

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9. Rule 4A(4) also provides that the manner of preparation ofNational Register of Indian Citizens in the State of Assam will be as laiddown in a separate Schedule appended to the 2003 Rules. Clauses 2and 3 of the Schedule are extracted below to show that a specificprocedure for entry into the NRC in the State of Assam is provided for.

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“2. Manner of preparation of draft National Register ofIndian Citizen in State of Assam-(1)(a) The District Magistrateshall cause to be published the copies of the National Register ofCitizens, 1951 and electoral rolls up to the midnight of the 24[th] dayof March, 1971, as available, in sufficient numbers and publish itand send the same to the Local Register of Citizens Registration H

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for wide circulation and public inspection in each village and ward.(b) The Local Registrar of Citizen Registration shall select centrallylocated public place for display of the records and for issue andreceipt of the application forms.

(c) The Local Registrar of Citizens Registration shall be thecustodian of the records in the area under his jurisdiction and shallbe responsible for its display during the office hours.

(2) The Local Registrar of Citizen Registration shall receive thefilled up application forms, at the same place where the applicationsare issued, and issue the receipt thereof of the applicant.

(3) The Local Registrar of Citizen Registration, after the receiptof the application under sub-paragraph (3) shall scrutinize theapplications and after its verification, prepare a consolidated listthereof which shall contain the names of the following persons,namely:—

(a) persons whose names appear in any of the (electoral rolls upto the midnight of the 24[th] day of March, 1971) or in NationalRegister of Citizens, 1951; (b) descendants of the persons mentioned in clause(a) above.”

“3.Scrutiny of applications.-(1) The scrutiny of applicationsreceived under sub-paragraph (3) of Paragraph 2 shall be madeby comparing the information stated in the application form withthe official records and the persons, of whom the information isfound in order, shall be eligible for inclusion of their names in theconsolidated list.

(2) The names of persons who have been declared as illegalmigrants or foreigners by the competent authority shall not beincluded in the consolidated list:

Provided that the names of persons who came in the State ofAssam after 1966 and before the 25[th] March, 1971 and registeredthemselves with the Foreigner Registration Regional Officer andwho have not been declared as illegal migrants or foreigners bythe competent authority shall be eligible to be included in theconsolidated list;

(3) The names of persons who are originally inhabitants ofthe State of Assam and their children and descendants, whoare Citizens of India, shall be included in the consolidatedlist if the Citizenship of such persons is ascertained beyondreasonable doubt and to the satisfaction of the registeringauthority;

(4) The Local Registrar of Citizens Registration may, in case ofany doubt in respect of parental linkage or any particular mentionedin the application received under sub-paragraph (3) of Paragraph2, refer the matter to the District Magistrate for investigation andhis decision and Local Registrar of Citizens Registration shall alsoinform the same to the individual or the family;

(5) The Local Registrar of Citizens Registration may, in respectof a person who- (a) was residing in a place other than the State of Assam up to themidnight of the 24[th] day of March, 1971; or (b) has shifted from one district to another within the State ofAssam up to the midnight of the 24[th] day of March, 1971, verify information relating to such person through inter-Statecorrespondence, or, as the case may be, through inter-districtcorrespondence.”

10. An extract from the order of this Court dated 21.07.2015 willfurther clarify the issue with regard to original inhabitants of Assam aswell as citizens who may have migrated from other parts of the countryto Assam after 24.03.1971.

“Insofar as clause 3(3) of the Schedule appended to the Rules isconcerned, we clarify that the expression “original inhabitants ofthe state of Assam” would include the “Tea Tribes” and theinclusion of such original inhabitants would be on the basis ofproof to the satisfaction of the Registering Authority whichestablishes the citizenship of such persons beyond reasonabledoubt. Any directions by the Registrar General of India in thisregard shall also be followed by the Registering Authority.

Insofar as clause 3(5) of the Schedule to the Rules is concerned,we clarify that Indian citizens, including their children and A

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Adescendants, who may have moved to the State of Assamsubsequent to 24[th] March, 1971 would be eligible for inclusion inthe NRC on adducing satisfactory proof of residence in any partof the country (outside Assam) as on 24[th] March, 1971.”

11. The special provision contained in Rule 4A of the 2003 RulesBread with the Schedule framed thereunder, for preparation of NationalRegister of Indian Citizens in the State of Assam, had been necessitatedon account of the provisions contained in Section 6A of the Act whichare special provisions as to grant citizenship to persons covered by theAssam Accord. Under Section 6A(2) of the Act, all persons of Indianorigin who had come to the State of Assam before 1[st] day of January,C1966 from the specified territory (defined as territories included inBangladesh) immediately before the commencement of the Citizenship(Amendment) Act, 1985, including such persons whose names wereincluded in the electoral rolls for purposes of the General Election to theHouse of the People held in 1967, and who have been ordinarily resident

Din Assam since the dates of their entry into Assam are deemed to becitizens of India as on and from 1[st] day of January, 1966.

12. Person(s) who had entered Assam between 1[st] day of January,1966 but before the 25[th] day of March 1971 and who has been ordinarilyresident in Assam, upon being detected as a foreigner(s), was/were liableEto register himself/themselves in accordance with the Rules made bythe Central Government. On such registration, under Section 6A(4) ofthe Act, such a person would have the same rights and obligations as aCitizen of India; but for a period of ten years he/she shall not be entitledto have his/her name included in any electoral roll.

13. Section 6A of the Act which was inserted with effect from 7[th]FDecember, 1985 by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1985 (Act No.65of 1985), thus, carves out a special category of citizens in the State ofAssam. In view of the special category of citizens so created a specialprocedure came to be prescribed by Rule 4A of the 2003 Rules readwith the Schedule thereto in the matter of preparation of National RegisterGof Indian Citizens in the State of Assam whereby the claims of allpersons (including persons born in India) for inclusion in the NRC wereto be related to the entries either in the National Register of Citizens1951 or any of the electoral rolls prepared upto the midnight of the 24[th]day of March,1971 or on the basis of any of the additional documentsreferred to earlier.H

14. The above said procedure was necessitated on account of alarge number of persons who acquired citizenship by virtue of Section6A of the Act without being actually born within the territories of India.Yet, as Section 6A of the Act confers citizenship on such person(s), aspecial procedure, indicated above, has to be devised for inclusion in theNRC in the State of Assam. This is what was agreed upon under theAssam Accord which led to the introduction of Section 6A in theCitizenship Act, 1955 with effect from 7[th] December, 1985.

15. The entire NRC exercise having been performed on theaforesaid basis, the same cannot be now ordered to be reopened byinitiation of a fresh exercise on certain other parameters that have beensuggested on behalf of the intervenors/applicants on the strength of theprovisions of Section 3(1)(a) of the Act.

16. Insofar as the prayer of the learned State Coordinator withregard to maintenance of security of the NRC data is concerned, wedirect that an appropriate regime be enacted on lines similar to the securityregime provided for AADHAR data. Only thereafter, the list of inclusionsand exclusions shall be made available to the State Government, CentralGovernment and Registrar General of India. We further direct thatonly hard-copies of the supplementary list of inclusions be published atthe NRC Seva Centers, Circle Offices and Offices of the DistrictMagistrates of the State. We also direct that the list of exclusions to bepublished on 31[st] August, 2019 shall be published only on on-line andshall be family-wise.

17. So far as the validity of orders passed under the IMDT Actare concerned, we direct that such cases shall be governed by the decisionof the Gauhati High Court in Anowar Ali v. State of Assam reported in2014 (3) GLT 500.

18. We make it clear that subject to orders as may be passed bythe Constitution Bench in Writ Petition (C) No.562 of 2012 and WritPetition (C) No.311 of 2015, National Register of Citizens (NRC) willbe updated.

Devika Gujral

Directions issued.

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