Debasish Ghosh and Anr v. The Union of India and 5 Ors

ORDER

26.07.2023 Both the Writ Petitioners herein have approached this Court by filing the present writ petition being aggrieved by non-inclusion of their name in the NRC.

¶2From a perusal of the writ petition, it transpires that the Petitioners claim to be Indian citizens, however, the Respondent Authorities, more particularly the Page No.# 3/4 Respondent No. 4 had illegally and arbitrarily not included the names of the Petitioners in the NRC. This Court had issued notice on 29.04.2022 on the interim prayer making it returnable in four weeks.

¶3The Deputy Commissioner –cum-District Election Officer-cum-Electoral Registration Officer, Udalguri had filed an affidavit-in-opposition. In the said affidavit-in-opposition, the various claims so made by the Petitioners in the writ petition have been refuted. Be that as it may, it is however relevant to take note of that it was mentioned in the Affidavit-in-Opposition that the Petitioners were asked by the NRC authorities to appear before them in various locations. The Petitioners were duly heard. It was further mentioned that the case of the Petitioners claiming that their names to be included in the NRC is yet to be decided by the authorities. It is mentioned that if the claim of the Petitioners are decided against the Petitioners, rejection slip would be issued by the authorities concerned and thereupon the Petitioners would have a right under Rule 8 of The Citizenship (Registrations of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Card) Rules, 2003 (for short 'the Rules of 2003') to prefer to appear before the authorities. It has also been stated in the said affidavit-in-opposition that the said authorities have also not decided the issue pertaining to the inclusion of the names of the Petitioners on account of the matter pertaining to the NRC being pending before the Supreme Court.

¶4Upon perusal of the said affidavit-in-opposition and taking into account the materials on record and hearing the learned counsel for the parties, this Court is of the opinion that as the matter pertaining to the inclusion of the names of the Petitioners in the NRC is presently pending before the authorities and the said authorities have not taken any decision on the matter on account of the matter pending before the Supreme Court, the reliefs which have been sought for in Page No.# 4/4 the writ petition cannot be granted at this stage.

¶5It is however, observed that if the application of the Petitioners seeking inclusion of their names in the NRC is rejected, the Petitioners can very well challenge the same in terms with Rule 8 of the Rules of 2003. This Court also finds it relevant to observe that as the matter pertaining to the inclusion of the names of the Petitioners in the NRC is subjudice before the authorities, no pre-judicial steps be taken against the Petitioners on account of their names not included in the NRC.

¶6With the above, the petition stands disposed off. JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010067502022 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/2769/2022o DEBASISHoGHOSHoANDoANRo S/O-LATEoCHITTARANJANoGHOSHo R/O-oTANGLAoWARDoNO-4o P.OoANDoP.S-oTANGLAo DIST-oUDALGURIo(BTR),oASSAM 2:oDEBARUPoGHOSH oS/O-DEBASHISHoGHOSHo R/O-oTANGLAoWARDoNO-4o P.OoANDoP.S-oTANGLAo DIST-oUDALGURIo(BTR) oASSAo VERSUSo THEoUNIONoOFoINDIAoANDo5oORSo REP.oBYoTHEoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoINDIA,oMINISTRYoOFoHOMEo AFFAIRS,oSASTRIoBHAWAN,oNEWoDELHI-o110001. 2:THEoELECTIONoCOMMISSIONoOFoINDIA oREP.oBYoTHEoCHIEFoELECTIONoCOMMISSIONERoOFoINDIA oNIRVACHANoSADAN oASHOKAoROAD NEWoDELHI-110001 3:THEoSTATEoOFoASSAM oREP.oBYoTHEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM oHOMEoDEPARTMENT oDISPUR oGUWAHATI-6 4:THEoSTATEoCOORDINATOR oNATIONALoREGISTERoOFoCITIZENS oASSAM Page No.# 2/4 1ST FLOOR ACHYUT PLAZA G.S ROAD. BHANGAGARH GUWAHATI-05 DIST- KAMRUP (M) 5:THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER CUM-DISTRICT ELECTION OFFICER CUM ELECTORAL REGISTRATION OFFICER UDALGURI P.O AND P.S- UDALGURI DIST- UDALGURI ASSAM PIN-784509 6:THE SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE (B) UDALGURI P.O AND P.S- UDALGURI DIST- UDALGURI ASSAM PIN-78450 For the Petitioners : Mr. R.S. Chauhan, Advocate. For the Respondents : Mr. R.K. Deb Choudhury, SC, NRC (R-4). Ms. M. Barman, Advocate (R- 3, 5 & 6). Mr. Imtiaz Ali, Advocate. BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DEVASHIS BARUAH