Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on Friday requested the Supreme Court to extend the July 31 deadline for final National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Mehta appearing for Centre as well as the Assam government told the bench comprising CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Aniruddha Bose: “There are manifold inclusions in the area bordering Bangladesh. India cannot be a refugee capital and illegal migrants will have to be dealt with.”

Parteek Hajela, State Coordinator for NRC said: “The final list will be published on July 31 but time is required for consolidation of the list. The list should be extended till August 31 as some more time is required for the supplementary list.”

The bench posted the matter for next hearing to July 23 and told Hajela to provide necessary documents to Mehta.

The bench was hearing a plea related to the preparation of the final draft National Register of Citizens.

—India Legal Bureau