NRC published in August 2019 is final, rules Assam Foreigners’ TribunalThe National Register of Citizens (NRC) published on August 31, 2019 is the “Final NRC”, ruled a Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT) in Assam, even as the Registrar General of India is yet to notify it. Declaring a man Indian citizen, the tribunal in Karimganj district held that though National Identity Cards are yet to be issued, “but there is no doubt that this NRC Assam published in 2019 is nothing but Final NRC”

The case was registered first under the Illegal Migrant (Determination by the Tribunal) Act in 1999. It was shifted to FT-I of Karimganj in 2007 after the IM(D)T Act was struck down by The Supreme Court in 2005, and was finally transferred to FT-II in 2017. The matter was heard on September 1 this year.

The process of updating the NRC had begun in 2015 and the final list was published on August 31, 2019, with the names of 3.11 crore people. Over 19 lakh applicants were left out of it. The Registrar General of India is yet to notify it.