The Supreme Court on Friday, 29 January, issued notice on two pleas against the actions of the new NRC-Assam State Coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma, for reviewing and deleting names from the already finalised National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam.
Jamiat Ulema e Hind and All Assam Minorities Students Union (AAMSU) had moved the apex court challenging the circular issued by Sarma in October last year, which directed identification and deletion of names from the finalised NRC, Assam. Though the petitioners had initially filed contempt petitions against Sarma, in the previous hearing the top court had asked for an amendment to the petitions by removing the prayer for initiating contempt.
On Friday, a bench headed by the Chief Justice S.A. Bobde converted the amended contempt petition into interlocutory applications in the main matter (NRC monitoring bench) and issued notice returnable in four weeks.