ASSAM PUBLIC WORKSversusUNION OF INDIA & ORS.

                          [2019] 10 S.C.R. 217                             217


                     ASSAM PUBLIC WORKS                                    A
                                   v.
                     UNION OF INDIA & ORS.
                 (Writ Petition (C) No. 274 of 2009)
                          AUGUST 13, 2019                                  B
      [RANJAN GOGOI, CJI AND R. F. NARIMAN, J.]
       Citizenship Act, 1955: ss.3, 6 – State of Assam – Report of
State Coordinator – Action proposed in Paragraph 7(a) that for
any NRC Applications/Claimants, if parent/legacy person through
                                                                           C
whom eligibility is sought to be established is a DV or DF or PFT,
then such persons will not be included in NRC irrespective of the
status of the other parent – Challenged on the ground that the said
action ran contrary to the provisions of s.3(1)(a) of the Act which
dealt with acquisition of citizenship by birth in the case of every
person born in India on or after the 26.1.1950 but before 1.7.1987         D
– Held: The purport and effect of provisions of s.3(1)(a) and (b) of
the Act is pending consideration before a Constitution Bench of
this court in Writ Petition (c) No.311 of 2015 – The issue pending is
whether the expression “every person born in India” would apply
only to persons born to Indian citizens and whether the expression
                                                                           E
“either of whose parents is a citizen of India at the time of his birth”
in s.3(1)(b) of the Act would apply to only a person who is born to
parents one of whom is a citizen and the other a foreigner, provided
he or she has entered India lawfully and his/her stay in India is not
in contravention of applicable Indian laws.
                                                                           F
      Citizenship Act, 1955: State of Assam – Report of State
Coordinator – Actions proposed in Paragraph 7(b) and 7(c) that
those persons born before 3.12.2004, if the parent through whom
legacy is drawn is not DV or DF or PFT and is found eligible for
inclusion in NRC, but the other parent from whom legacy is not
drawn is a DV or DF or PFT, then, such descendants may be included         G
in NRC; and those persons who are born on or after 3.12. 2004,
they will not be included in NRC if any of the parent is DV or DF or
PFT even if the parent from whom legacy is drawn is clear from all
angles – The suggestions/prayers made in paragraph 7(b) and (c)
                                                                           H
                                  217
218            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                       [2019] 10 S.C.R.


A     of Report dated 10.7.2019 of the State Coordinator are in
      consonance with the provisions of s.3(1)(b) and (c) of the Act and
      the Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) for disposal of claims and
      objections – Therefore, there is no reason to refuse leave to the
      State Coordinator to act in terms of the action proposed in the said
      suggestions/prayers made in Paragraph 7(b) and (c) subject to such
B
      orders that this Court may pass in Writ Petition (c) No.311 of 2015
      – Moreover, as suggested by the State Coordinator, the issue raised
      could be best decided by the Tribunal, if so required as and when
      appeals are filed.
            Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National
C     Identity Cards) Rules, 2003 – rr.4A, 6A – r.4A of the 2003 Rules
      carves out special provisions in the matter of preparation of National
      Register of Indian Citizens in the State of Assam – r.4A(2) specifically
      provides that the National Register of Indian Citizens in the State of
      Assam shall be prepared by inviting applications from all the residents
D     calling for specified particulars relating to each family and
      individual including the citizenship status based on the National
      Register of Citizens 1951 and the electoral rolls upto the midnight
      of 24.3.1971 – The special provision contained in r.4A of the 2003
      Rules read with the Schedule framed thereunder, for preparation of
      National Register of Indian Citizens in the State of Assam, had been
E     necessitated on account of the provisions contained in s.6A of the
      Act which are special provisions as to grant citizenship to persons
      covered by the Assam Accord – Under s.6A(2) of the Act, all persons
      of Indian origin who had come to the State of Assam before 1.1.1966
      from the specified territory (defined as territories included in
F     Bangladesh) immediately before the commencement of the
      Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1985, including such persons whose
      names were included in the electoral rolls for purposes of the
      General Election to the House of the People held in 1967, and who
      have been ordinarily resident in Assam since the dates of their entry
      into Assam are deemed to be citizens of India as on and from 1.1.1966
G     – Person(s) who had entered Assam between 1.1.1966 but before
      the 25.3.1971 and who has been ordinarily resident in Assam, upon
      being detected as a foreigner(s), was/were liable to register himself/
      themselves in accordance with the Rules made by the Central
      Government – On such registration, under s.6A(4) of the Act, such
H     a person would have the same rights and obligations as a Citizen
    ASSAM PUBLIC WORKS v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS.                           219


of India; but for a period of ten years he/she shall not be entitled to   A
have his/her name included in any electoral roll – s.6A of the Act
which was inserted with effect from 7.12.1985 by the Citizenship
(Amendment) Act, 1985 (Act No.65 of 1985), thus, carves out a
special category of citizens in the State of Assam – The entire NRC
exercise having been performed on the aforesaid basis, the same
                                                                          B
cannot be now ordered to be reopened by initiation of a fresh exercise
on certain other parameters that have been suggested on behalf of
the intervenors/applicants on the strength of the provisions of
s.3(1)(a) of the Act – Citizenship Act, 1955 – ss.3, 6.
       National Register of Citizens: Prayer of the State Coordinator
with regard to maintenance of security of the NRC data – This Court       C
directed that an appropriate regime be enacted on lines similar to
the security regime provided for AADHAR data – Only thereafter,
the list of inclusions and exclusions shall be made available to the
State Government, Central Government and Registrar General of
India – Further it was directed that only hard-copies of the              D
supplementary list of inclusions be published at the NRC Seva
Centers, Circle Offices and Offices of the District Magistrates of
the State – Also direction passed that the list of exclusions to be
published on 31.8.2019 shall be published only on on-line and shall
be family-wise – So far as the validity of orders passed under the
IMDT Act are concerned, such cases shall be governed by the               E
decision of the Gauhati High Court in Anowar Ali v. State of Assam.
      CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Writ Petition (C) No. 274
of 2009.
      (Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India)                     F
      With
      I.A. Nos. 114781, 114788, 114807, 114814, 116964, 117074, 117697
and 117689 of 2019.
      Tushar Mehta, SG, Kapil Sibal, Salman Khurshid, C. U. Singh,
                                                                          G
B. H. Marlapalle, Vinay Navare, Sr. Advs., Kailash Prashad Pandey,
Ms. Shefali Sethi, Ms. Binu Tamta, Ms. Rekha Pandey, Ankur Talwar,
Ms. Shraddha Deshmukh, B. Krishna Prasad, B. V. Balaram Das,
Shuvodeep Roy, Rajat Nair, Sataroop Das, Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi,
Mushtafa Khaddam Hussain, Ibad Mushtaq, Ms. Aditi Gupta,
Ms. Tehsina, Ms. Shabeen Anjum, Ms. Lubna Naz, Ms. Kunika, Somesh         H
220             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                         [2019] 10 S.C.R.


A     Chandra Jha, Ms. Aparna Bhat, Ms. Krishma Maria, A. S. Tapadar, Ajit
      Wagh, Mansoor Ali, Ms. Rubina Jawed, Ms. Rashmi Singhania, Ms.
      Diksha Rai, Ms. Palak Mahajan, Siddhesh Kotwal, Ms. Bansuri Swaraj,
      Ms. Arshiya Ghose, Divyansh Tiwari, Shourajeet Chakravarty, Ms. Astha
      Sharma, Amlan Kumar Ghosh, Ms. Jayashree Satpute, Mohit Chaudhary,
      Ms. Tripti Poddar, Deboji Borkokati, Vivek Shankar, Ms. Malvika Trivedi,
B
      Ankit Yadav, T. Mahipal, Ms. Sneha Kalita, Ms. Jissy Kurian, S. Ahmed,
      Ms. Arna Das, Gaurav Dhingra, M.C. Dhingra, Ms. Indira K., Krishna
      Kumar Pandey, Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Mritunjay Kumar Mishra, Mohan
      Pandey, G. N. Reddy, Ms. Sujatha Bagadhi, T. Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy,
      Shibashish Misra, Ms. Madhusmita Bhattacharjee, Shadan Farasat,
C     Snehasish Mukherjee, Guntur Prabhakar, Mohit D. Ram., Abhijit
      Sengupta, Sanand Ramakrishnan, Avijit Roy, Ms. Rashmi Nandakumar,
      M/s. Corporate Law Group, Advs. for the appearing parties.
             The Order of the Court was passed by
             RANJAN GOGOI, CJI.
D            1. In our order dated 23rd July, 2019 we had extracted paragraphs
      7 and 8 of the Report of Shri Prateek Hajela, learned State Coordinator
      dated 10th July, 2019. After setting out the contents of aforesaid two
      paragraphs of the Report dated 10th July, 2019 we had deemed it
      appropriate to direct the learned State Coordinator to issue a public notice
E     to enable all stake-holders to appear before this Court, in a representative
      capacity, to contest the prayers made by the learned State Coordinator
      in the aforesaid two paragraphs of the Report dated 10th July, 2019, if so
      desired. The said two paragraphs read as follows:
             “7. Another matter which the undersigned wishes to bring to the
             kind attention is about such cases of descendants of D Voter (DV)/
F            Declared Foreigner (DF)/Cases Pending at Foreigners Tribunals/
             Other Courts (PFT), whose one parent is DV/DF/PFT but the
             parent from whom the legacy is drawn for inclusion in NRC is not
             WP(C) 274/2009 4 DV/DF/PFT and is also found eligible for
             inclusion in NRC. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in their order of 2
G            July 2018 have ordered that those persons who are DVs or PFTs
             as well as their descendants are not to be included in updated
             NRC. As descendance can be drawn from either of the parents,
             clarification appears to be required in cases where one of the
             parents is clear from all angles (not DV/DF/PFT and eligible for
             NRC inclusion) while the other parent is a DV or DF or PFT. It
H            also appears that while deciding eligibility of descendants,
ASSAM PUBLIC WORKS v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS.                             221
           [RANJAN GOGOI, CJI.]

 provisions of Section 3(1)(b) & (c) of the Citizenship Act, 1955       A
 may be important to be taken into account, though citizenship purely
 by birth and not by descendance (Section 3(1)(a) is not eligible
 for inclusion in NRC. It is humbly felt that the sustance of Section
 3(1)(b) & (c) is that while determining citizenship of any
 descendant born up to 3 December, 2004, citizenship eligibility of
                                                                        B
 any one of the parents suffices, while for those descendants born
 on or after 3 December 2004, citizenship eligibility of both the
 parents needs to be taken into account. From a conjoint reading
 of Hon’ble Supreme Court’s order dated 2 July 2018 and the
 provisions contained in Section 3(1)(b) & (c) of the Citizenship
 Act, 1955, the following appears to be the best course of action:      C
 a. For any NRC Applications/Claimants, if parent/legacy person
 through whom eligibility is sought to be established is a DV or DF
 or PFT, then such persons will not be included in NRC irrespective
 of the status of the other parent.
 b. For those persons born before 3 December 2004, if the parent        D
 through whom legacy is drawn is not DV or DF or PFT and is
 found eligible for inclusion in NRC, but the other parent from
 whom legacy is not drawn is a DV or DF or PFT, then, such
 descendants may be included in NRC.
 c. For those persons who are born on or after 3 December 2004,         E
 they will not be included in NRC if any of the parent is DV or DF
 or PFT even if the parent from whom legacy is drawn is clear
 from all angles.
 In this regard, it is submitted that the aforementioned matter was
 submitted by the deponent before the Judges Committee for opinion      F
 but the Committee advised to seek the order of the Hon’ble Court
 on the matter. As such the WP(C) 274/2009 5 above is submitted
 for kind approval.
 8. That the deponent also would like to seek clarification on the
 matter of validity of orders passed under the Illegal Migrants         G
 (Determination by Tribunal) (IMDT) Act. Some of the applicants
 have submitted orders passed under IMDT declaring them as
 Indian. This matter was also referred by the deponent to the Judges
 Committee, however, the Committee advised the deponent to seek
 order from the Hon’ble Court on the matter. As such, directions
                                                                        H
222             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2019] 10 S.C.R.


A           are sought about acceptability of orders of IMDT, whether
            declaring the person to be Indian or Illegal Migrant.”
             2. Pursuant to our aforesaid order dated 23rd July, 2019, several
      Interlocutory Applications (I.As) have been filed contesting the action
      proposed under paragraph 7(a) of the said Report dated 10th July, 2019
B     of the learned State Coordinator primarily on the ground that the said
      action runs contrary to the provisions of Section 3 (1)(a) of the Citizenship
      Act, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”) which deals with
      acquisition of citizenship by birth in the case of every person born in
      India on or after the 26th day of January, 1950 but before the 1st day of
      July, 1987.
C
             3. The aforesaid objection against the prayer made by the learned
      State Coordinator is sought to be fortified by reference to the following
      statement contained in the report dated 10th July, 2019.
            “It also appears that while deciding eligibility of descendants,
D           provisions of Section 3(1)(b) & (c) of the Citizenship Act, 1955
            may be important to be taken into account, though citizenship purely
            by birth and not by descendance (Section 3(1)(a) is not eligible
            for inclusion in NRC.”
                                                          [underlining is ours]
E            4. We have heard the learned counsels for the parties as well as
      the learned State Coordinator who is present in Court in person. The
      purport and effect of the provisions of Section 3 (1) (a) and (b) of the
      Act is presently pending consideration before a Constitution Bench of
      this court in Writ Petition (Civil) No.311 of 2015. Reference to the
F     Constitution Bench was made by the order of this Court dated 21st July,
      2015 in the said Writ Petition (Civil) No.311 of 2015. The issue pending
      is whether the expression “every person born in India” would apply only
      to persons born to Indian citizens and whether the expression “either of
      whose parents is a citizen of India at the time of his birth” in S.3(1)(b) of
      the Citizenship Act, 1955 would apply to only a person who is born to
G     parents one of whom is a citizen and the other a foreigner, provided he
      or she has entered India lawfully and his/her stay in India is not in
      contravention of applicable Indian laws.
           5. The suggestions/prayers made in paragraph 7(b) and (c) of the
      Report dated 10th July, 2019 of the learned State Coordinator are in
H
     ASSAM PUBLIC WORKS v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS.                                223
                [RANJAN GOGOI, CJI.]

consonance with the provisions of Section 3 (1) (b) and (c) of the Act          A
and the Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) for disposal of claims and
objections. Therefore, we find no reason to refuse leave to the learned
State Coordinator to act in terms of the action proposed in the said
suggestions/prayers made in Paragraph 7(b) and (c) subject to such
orders that this Court may pass in Writ Petition (Civil) No.311 of 2015.
                                                                                B
Moreover, as suggested by the learned State Coordinator, the issue raised
could be best decided by the Tribunal, if so required as and when appeals
are filed.
       6. This will bring the Court to a consideration of the prayers made/
suggestions offered by the learned State Coordinator in paragraph 7(a)
of the Report dated 10th July, 2019 and the objections raised in this regard    C
to the effect that the same overlooks the provisions of Section 3 (1) (a)
of the Act.
        7. Even though the contours of the provisions of Sections 3 and
also 6A of the Act are pending consideration by the Constitution Bench
of this Court in W.P.(C) No.562 of 2012 and W.P.(C) No.311 of 2015,             D
and will be governed by such orders as may be passed, we may, at this
stage, take note of the provisions of Rule 4A the Citizenship (Registration
of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003 (hereinafter
referred to as “2003 Rules”) which are set out hereunder.
      “4A. Special provisions as to National Register of Indian                 E
      Citizens in the State of Assam—
      (1) Nothing in rule 4 shall, on and after the commencement of the
      Citizenship (Registration of Citizenship and Issue of National
      Identity Cards) Amendment Rules, 2009, apply to the State of
      Assam.                                                                    F
      (2) The Central Government shall, for the purpose, of the National
      Register of Indian Citizens in the State of Assam, cause to carry
      out throughout the State of Assam for preparation of the National
      Register of Indian Citizens in the State of Assam by inviting
      applications from all the residents, for collection of specified          G
      particulars relating to each family and individual, residing in a local
      area in the State including the citizenship status based on the
      National Register of Citizens 1951, and the electoral rolls up to
      the midnight of the 24th day of March, 197l.
                                                                                H
224              SUPREME COURT REPORTS                        [2019] 10 S.C.R.


A           (3) The Registrar General of Citizens Registration shall notify the
            period and duration of the enumeration in the Official Gazette.
            (4) The manner of preparation of the National Register of Indian
            Citizens in the State of Assam shall be such as specified in the
            Schedule appended to these rules.”
B            8. Rule 4A of the 2003 Rules carves out special provisions in the
      matter of preparation of National Register of Indian Citizens in the State
      of Assam. The provisions of Rule 4A are a departure to the provisions
      contained in Rule 4 of the 2003 Rules which deals with preparation of
      National Register of Indian Citizens in the rest of the country. Rule
C     4A(2) specifically provides that the National Register of Indian Citizens
      in the State of Assam shall be prepared by inviting applications from all
      the residents calling for specified particulars relating to each family and
      individual including the citizenship status based on the National Register
      of Citizens 1951 and the electoral rolls upto the midnight of the 24th day
      of March,1971. The aforesaid two documents have been supplemented
D     by an additional list of documents, any of which can be utilized by a
      claimant in support of his/her claim for inclusion in the NRC that the
      claimant or his ancestor had been residing in the State of Assam on or
      before 24th March, 1971. The particulars of the documents included are
      as follows:
E           “LIST A -LIST OF LEGACY DOCUMENTS ADMISSIBLE
            1.    Extract of NRC, 1951
            2.    Extract/certified copy of Electoral Rolls up to the midnight
                  of 24th March 1971 (midnight)
F           3.    Land records including tenancy records of relevant period
                  [upto 24th March, 1971 (midnight)
            4.    Citizenship Certificate issued by competent authority (upto
                  24th March, 1971 (midnight)
            5.    Permanent Residential Certificate issued from outside the
G                 State upto 24th March, 1971 (midnight) (which all should be
                  got verified from the issuing authority by the Registering
                  authority)
            6.    Refugee registration certificate issued upto 24th March, 1971
                  (midnight)
H
     ASSAM PUBLIC WORKS v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS.                              225
                [RANJAN GOGOI, CJI.]

      7.    Passport issued by the Government of India upto 24th March,       A
            1971 (midnight)
      8.    Life Insurance Corporation of India Insurance Policy (LICI)
            of relevant period upto 24th March, 1971 (midnight)
      9.    Any license/certificate issued by any Government authority
            of relevant period i.e. upto 24th March, 1971 (midnight)          B

      10. Document showing service/employment under Government
          Public Sector Undertaking upto 24th March, 1971 (midnight)
      11.   Bank/Post Office Accounts of relevant period i.e. upto 24th
            March, 1971 (midnight)                                            C
                                                                         th
      12. Birth certificates issued by the competent authority upto 24
          March, 1971 (midnight)
      13. Educational certificate issued by Board/Universities upto 24th
          March, 1971 (midnight)
                                                                              D
      14. Records/processes pertaining to court upto 24th March, 1971
          (midnight)
      Supporting Documents
      15. Ration cards issued by competent authority with official seal
          and signature upto 24th March, 1971 (midnight)                      E
      Note: Any of the documents specified in the above List of
            Documents would be accepted except Document mentioned
            against Sl. 15 which may be regarded as supporting
            document only.”
      9. Rule 4A(4) also provides that the manner of preparation of           F
National Register of Indian Citizens in the State of Assam will be as laid
down in a separate Schedule appended to the 2003 Rules. Clauses 2
and 3 of the Schedule are extracted below to show that a specific
procedure for entry into the NRC in the State of Assam is provided for.
      “2. Manner of preparation of draft National Register of                 G
      Indian Citizen in State of Assam-(1)(a) The District Magistrate
      shall cause to be published the copies of the National Register of
      Citizens, 1951 and electoral rolls up to the midnight of the 24th day
      of March, 1971, as available, in sufficient numbers and publish it
      and send the same to the Local Register of Citizens Registration
                                                                              H
226      SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2019] 10 S.C.R.


A     for wide circulation and public inspection in each village and ward.
      (b) The Local Registrar of Citizen Registration shall select centrally
      located public place for display of the records and for issue and
      receipt of the application forms.
      (c)The Local Registrar of Citizens Registration shall be the
B     custodian of the records in the area under his jurisdiction and shall
      be responsible for its display during the office hours.
      (2) The Local Registrar of Citizen Registration shall receive the
      filled up application forms, at the same place where the applications
      are issued, and issue the receipt thereof of the applicant.
C
      (3) The Local Registrar of Citizen Registration, after the receipt
      of the application under sub-paragraph (3) shall scrutinize the
      applications and after its verification, prepare a consolidated list
      thereof which shall contain the names of the following persons,
      namely:—
D
      (a) persons whose names appear in any of the (electoral rolls up
      to the midnight of the 24th day of March, 1971) or in National
      Register of Citizens, 1951;
      (b) descendants of the persons mentioned in clause(a) above.”
E     “3.Scrutiny of applications.-(1) The scrutiny of applications
      received under sub-paragraph (3) of Paragraph 2 shall be made
      by comparing the information stated in the application form with
      the official records and the persons, of whom the information is
      found in order, shall be eligible for inclusion of their names in the
      consolidated list.
F
      (2) The names of persons who have been declared as illegal
      migrants or foreigners by the competent authority shall not be
      included in the consolidated list:
      Provided that the names of persons who came in the State of
G     Assam after 1966 and before the 25th March, 1971 and registered
      themselves with the Foreigner Registration Regional Officer and
      who have not been declared as illegal migrants or foreigners by
      the competent authority shall be eligible to be included in the
      consolidated list;

H
     ASSAM PUBLIC WORKS v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS.                             227
                [RANJAN GOGOI, CJI.]

      (3) The names of persons who are originally inhabitants of             A
      the State of Assam and their children and descendants, who
      are Citizens of India, shall be included in the consolidated
      list if the Citizenship of such persons is ascertained beyond
      reasonable doubt and to the satisfaction of the registering
      authority;
                                                                             B
      (4) The Local Registrar of Citizens Registration may, in case of
      any doubt in respect of parental linkage or any particular mentioned
      in the application received under sub-paragraph (3) of Paragraph
      2, refer the matter to the District Magistrate for investigation and
      his decision and Local Registrar of Citizens Registration shall also
      inform the same to the individual or the family;                       C

      (5) The Local Registrar of Citizens Registration may, in respect
      of a person who-
      (a) was residing in a place other than the State of Assam up to the
      midnight of the 24th day of March, 1971; or                            D
      (b) has shifted from one district to another within the State of
      Assam up to the midnight of the 24th day of March, 1971,
      verify information relating to such person through inter-State
      correspondence, or, as the case may be, through inter-district
      correspondence.”                                                       E
      10. An extract from the order of this Court dated 21.07.2015 will
further clarify the issue with regard to original inhabitants of Assam as
well as citizens who may have migrated from other parts of the country
to Assam after 24.03.1971.
                                                                             F
      “Insofar as clause 3(3) of the Schedule appended to the Rules is
      concerned, we clarify that the expression “original inhabitants of
      the state of Assam” would include the “Tea Tribes” and the
      inclusion of such original inhabitants would be on the basis of
      proof to the satisfaction of the Registering Authority which
      establishes the citizenship of such persons beyond reasonable          G
      doubt. Any directions by the Registrar General of India in this
      regard shall also be followed by the Registering Authority.
      Insofar as clause 3(5) of the Schedule to the Rules is concerned,
      we clarify that Indian citizens, including their children and
                                                                             H
228             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2019] 10 S.C.R.


A           descendants, who may have moved to the State of Assam
            subsequent to 24th March, 1971 would be eligible for inclusion in
            the NRC on adducing satisfactory proof of residence in any part
            of the country (outside Assam) as on 24th March, 1971.”
             11. The special provision contained in Rule 4A of the 2003 Rules
B     read with the Schedule framed thereunder, for preparation of National
      Register of Indian Citizens in the State of Assam, had been necessitated
      on account of the provisions contained in Section 6A of the Act which
      are special provisions as to grant citizenship to persons covered by the
      Assam Accord. Under Section 6A(2) of the Act, all persons of Indian
      origin who had come to the State of Assam before 1st day of January,
C     1966 from the specified territory (defined as territories included in
      Bangladesh) immediately before the commencement of the Citizenship
      (Amendment) Act, 1985, including such persons whose names were
      included in the electoral rolls for purposes of the General Election to the
      House of the People held in 1967, and who have been ordinarily resident
D     in Assam since the dates of their entry into Assam are deemed to be
      citizens of India as on and from 1st day of January, 1966.
             12. Person(s) who had entered Assam between 1st day of January,
      1966 but before the 25th day of March 1971 and who has been ordinarily
      resident in Assam, upon being detected as a foreigner(s), was/were liable
E     to register himself/themselves in accordance with the Rules made by
      the Central Government. On such registration, under Section 6A(4) of
      the Act, such a person would have the same rights and obligations as a
      Citizen of India; but for a period of ten years he/she shall not be entitled
      to have his/her name included in any electoral roll.

F            13. Section 6A of the Act which was inserted with effect from 7th
      December, 1985 by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1985 (Act No.65
      of 1985), thus, carves out a special category of citizens in the State of
      Assam. In view of the special category of citizens so created a special
      procedure came to be prescribed by Rule 4A of the 2003 Rules read
      with the Schedule thereto in the matter of preparation of National Register
G     of Indian Citizens in the State of Assam whereby the claims of all
      persons (including persons born in India) for inclusion in the NRC were
      to be related to the entries either in the National Register of Citizens
      1951 or any of the electoral rolls prepared upto the midnight of the 24 th
      day of March,1971 or on the basis of any of the additional documents
H     referred to earlier.
     ASSAM PUBLIC WORKS v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS.                                   229
                [RANJAN GOGOI, CJI.]

       14. The above said procedure was necessitated on account of a               A
large number of persons who acquired citizenship by virtue of Section
6A of the Act without being actually born within the territories of India.
Yet, as Section 6A of the Act confers citizenship on such person(s), a
special procedure, indicated above, has to be devised for inclusion in the
NRC in the State of Assam. This is what was agreed upon under the
                                                                                   B
Assam Accord which led to the introduction of Section 6A in the
Citizenship Act, 1955 with effect from 7th December, 1985.
        15. The entire NRC exercise having been performed on the
aforesaid basis, the same cannot be now ordered to be reopened by
initiation of a fresh exercise on certain other parameters that have been
suggested on behalf of the intervenors/applicants on the strength of the           C
provisions of Section 3(1)(a) of the Act.
        16. Insofar as the prayer of the learned State Coordinator with
regard to maintenance of security of the NRC data is concerned, we
direct that an appropriate regime be enacted on lines similar to the security
regime provided for AADHAR data. Only thereafter, the list of inclusions           D
and exclusions shall be made available to the State Government, Central
Government and Registrar General of India. We further direct that
only hard-copies of the supplementary list of inclusions be published at
the NRC Seva Centers, Circle Offices and Offices of the District
Magistrates of the State. We also direct that the list of exclusions to be         E
published on 31st August, 2019 shall be published only on on-line and
shall be family-wise.
       17. So far as the validity of orders passed under the IMDT Act
are concerned, we direct that such cases shall be governed by the decision
of the Gauhati High Court in Anowar Ali v. State of Assam reported in              F
2014 (3) GLT 500.
       18. We make it clear that subject to orders as may be passed by
the Constitution Bench in Writ Petition (C) No.562 of 2012 and Writ
Petition (C) No.311 of 2015, National Register of Citizens (NRC) will
be updated.                                                                        G

Devika Gujral                                                 Directions issued.




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