The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the deadline of final publication of National Register of Citizens (NRC) from July 31 to Aug 31.

At today’s hearing, a bench comprising of CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justice RF Nariman was informed by the NRC state coordinator Prateek Hajela that he has given the copy of the status report to Assam govt and it will take time to file the reply.

“The directions may affect the rights of persons who may not be immediately before the court. We direct the state coordinator to publish the same so as to enable persons being affected to make representation before the court on August 7.

“All parties will be free to have a say in the aforesaid prayers. As far as the prayer seeking revision of the percentage of inclusions to remain low to prevent wrongful inclusions, no orders shall be passed,” the bench said.

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

On the previous hearing, the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Hajela had pleaded for the extension of the July 31 deadline.

Mehta had said: “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 had also 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.”

—India Legal Bureau