Guwahati: Assam Public Works (APW), a city-based rights group, has drawn the Prime Minister’s attention towards alleged corruption in the exercise of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.
Notably, APW is the primary petitioner in the Supreme Court, which led to the updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam about nine years back. The writ petition, WP(C) 274/2009, is pending before the Apex Court.
In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister as well as the Union Home Minister on Wednesday, APW sought the PM’s intervention on the issue and urged him to direct the enforcement directorate to inquire into the matter and book those involved in corruption during the update of the citizen’s register in the state.
“The update of NRC was taken up in 2013 in Assam under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court of India. Though the exercise was to be completed within three years, it is yet to be completed till date, owing to the irresponsible performance of the then state coordinator, NRC, Prateek Hajela,” APW president Aabhijeet Sharma wrote in the letter to the Prime Minister.
“Leaving apart the mismanagement of Hajela, the then state coordinator, there has been large-scale corruption in the Rs 1,600-crore project by Hajela, which has been reflected in the report of the Comptroller General of India (CAG) that was tabled before the state Assembly a couple of months ago,” Sharma stated.
“It is seen in the CAG report that there were financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 260 crore. Against remuneration to the data entry operators, Rs 155.88 crore was siphoned off, depriving the contractual staff. The Comptroller General of India held Prateek Hajela responsible for this huge corruption,” the APW president stated.
“The state government is yet to take action on the matter till date and we apprehend there will be inordinate delay in taking any action or there won’t be any action at all as Hajela was working as commissioner, home department of Assam for six to seven years, and he has huge influence over the state bureaucracy. There are other reasons also for our apprehension,” he stated.
Notably, APW had filed an FIR with the state police (Paltan Bazar police station) on October 14, 2022, regarding the alleged corruption in the NRC update exercise.
“But the FIR is yet to be registered by Assam Police. After that, we appealed to the DGP, Assam on February 14, 2023, for registration of the FIR. There has been no action taken by the DGP also,” Sharma stated.
Two FIRs were lodged by Hitesh Dev Sarma, the then state coordinator, NRC, Assam in May and June 2022 with the state CID and vigilance department with the same subject. “These FIRs also are yet to be registered by the state police,” he stated.
“Keeping in view of the above, we ardently request you to look into the matter personally and use your good office to direct the enforcement directorate to inquire into the matter and book the culprits involved in corruption,” Sharma stated.
“Under the leadership of Prateek Hajela, the names of lakhs of foreigners were enlisted in the NRC which has been mentioned in the affidavit filed by the then state coordinator, NRC, Assam, Hitesh Dev Sarma, and is also known to the Registrar General of India as well as the Union home ministry,” the APW president stated.
“Since the NRC is related to national security, the reasons for inclusion of foreigners’ names may be inquired upon by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). We suspect that a huge amount of money from the Middle East nations was in play for inclusion of names of Bangladeshi Muslims in the NRC. Hence, there is a need for investigation by the NIA (National Investigation Agency) also,” he stated.
“We very much appreciate your love and affection towards Assam and Assamese people. Considering our apprehension that the state government is not keen in taking action on the matter, your good office needs to take action directly,” Sharma stated in the letter.
The APW also enclosed with the letter the report of the CAG tabled before the Assam Assembly.
“Responsibility of the SCNR (State Coordinator, NRC Assam) should be fixed and action taken in a time bound manner for the excess, irregular and inadmissible payment made to the vendor. Penal action needs to be initiated against the System Integrator (M/s Wipro Limited) for violation of the Minimum Wages (MW) Act as payments were made to operators at a rate less than the minimum wages. Accountability of the SCNR, as principal employer, should also be fixed for not ensuring compliance with the MW Act,” the CAG recommended in the report.
It may be recalled that during the review of the implementation of the Assam Accord 1985, the Assam government had agreed for updating of NRC 1951. Under it, the Citizenship Rules, 2003 (Registration of Citizen and Issue of National Identity Cards) was amended based on modalities received from the Assam government which mandated updating of NRC 1951 to determine the citizenship of each resident by tracking linkage up to the period preceding the cut-off date.
The Registrar General of India (RGI), Government of India, in the exercise of the powers conferred by Section 18 of the Citizenship Act, 1955, issued a notification on December 5, 2013, to update the National Register of Citizens, 1951 in Assam.
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Under the provisions of Sub Rule (3) of Rule 4A of the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, the RGI notified that the enumeration in respect of the state of Assam should take place from the date of publication of the notification and to be completed within three years, that is by December 4, 2016. Although the Supreme Court in its order (December 17, 2014) reduced the period to 14 months, the timelines were extended seven times by the Supreme Court owing to non-achievement of the timelines by the State Coordinator, National Register of Citizens (SCNR), Assam.
Under the supervision of the Supreme Court, the draft NRC was published in two phases (December 31, 2017, and July 30, 2018) followed by the supplementary list of inclusion and exclusion of claims and objections was published on August 31, 2019. However, the gazette notification of the final NRC for Assam by the RGI is yet to be done.
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