Assam NRC just a draft, no coercive action against those left out: SC

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the publication of the complete draft NRC of Assam cannot be the basis of any coercive action against anyone since it is merely a draft.

It also directed the Centre to formulate standard operating procedure (SOP) to deal with claims and objections.

The apex court directed the Centre to place the SOP before it for approval and said it should be fair and giving reasonable opportunity to contest exclusion.

A bench of justices Ranjan Gogoi and R F Nariman said the Centre should place the SOP before it by August 16 and that a local registrar has to give notice to those who have filed claims and objections, and give them reasonable opportunity for hearing.

At the outset, Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) coordinator Prateek Hajela placed before the court its status report giving details of publication of the draft NRC yesterday.

To this the bench asked what was the future course of action.