More than seven years after Assam's final National Register of Citizens (NRC) was published, the formal process for issuing rejection slips to the 1.9 million people excluded from the list has not begun, the Centre has told the Supreme Court.
The disclosure was made in an affidavit filed by the Registrar General of India (RGI) on September 28. The RGI said the final NRC has not yet been formally notified because the state NRC coordinator is still working on a security regime for protecting the register's data.
The development leaves those excluded from the NRC without the formal document setting out the grounds for their exclusion, which was envisaged as a means of enabling them to pursue a statutory remedy before Foreigners Tribunals.
The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned the matter until November 6 after the Assam government sought additional time to file its response.
NRC notification remains pending
According to the RGI affidavit, the NRC data has not yet been handed over to the Registrar General because the security regime being prepared by the state coordinator is still under development.
“Enactment of the security regime for NRC data by the state coordinator is under progress and hence data has not been shared with the Registrar General of India,” the affidavit said.
The RGI has said it can formally notify the final NRC only after receiving the data from the state coordinator.
The issue has remained unresolved since the Supreme Court directed the state NRC coordinator on May 8, 2018, to devise a mechanism for issuing rejection slips to people excluded from the final register. The slips were intended to allow those affected to challenge their exclusion before Foreigners Tribunals.
In October 2020, the state NRC coordinator informed the RGI that rejection slips could be issued only after the final NRC was notified. That notification, however, has still not taken place.
A Gauhati High Court order in January 2026 also noted that the final NRC had not been notified in the Official Gazette and that rejection slips and adjudication by NRC Appellate Tribunals had not commenced.
19 lakh people remain without rejection documents
The final NRC was published on August 31, 2019, following a lengthy claims and objections process.
The exercise was launched after the Centre's December 2013 notification and the Assam government began updating the NRC in 2015. Under the process, applicants had to establish a link to the 1951 NRC or electoral rolls published before midnight on March 24, 1971, the cut-off date linked to the Assam Accord.
More than 6.8 million applications covering around 33 million people were submitted, along with approximately 66 million documents.
The draft NRC, published in July 2018, excluded around four million people. After claims and objections were considered, the supplementary lists were published on August 31, 2019.
The final exercise found more than 31.1 million people eligible for inclusion, while 1,906,657 people were left out. This included people who had not filed claims for inclusion.
The absence of rejection slips means those excluded have not received the formal document envisaged by the Supreme Court for challenging the decision.
Foreigners Tribunals route remains affected
Under the procedure contemplated for the NRC, people dissatisfied with their exclusion were entitled to approach Foreigners Tribunals, with appeals envisaged within 120 days.
Assam has around 100 quasi-judicial Foreigners Tribunals dealing with citizenship-related claims. However, the absence of rejection slips has complicated the process for those seeking to challenge their exclusion.
The Centre had earlier stated that people left out of the final NRC would have an opportunity to approach Foreigners Tribunals.
The latest Supreme Court proceedings stem from petitions filed by the Assam State Jamiat Ulama, the All Assam Minority Students Union and Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, among others. They have sought rejection slips for people excluded from the NRC and NRC cards for those whose names were included.
Security regime holds up formal notification
The delay is linked partly to a Supreme Court direction issued on August 13, 2019, shortly before the final list was published.
The court ordered that NRC data be protected through a security regime comparable to the safeguards governing Aadhaar data. It directed that the lists of inclusions and exclusions be made available to the state government, Centre and RGI only after appropriate safeguards were established.
The latest affidavit indicates that the required security framework is still being prepared.
The issue has also become relevant to Assam's electoral-roll revision. Recent reporting said there was no certainty over when a Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls would be undertaken in the state, with the creation of an Aadhaar-like data regime for NRC information still under way.
Other NRC matters remain before Supreme Court
The RGI has separately told the Supreme Court that the question of issuing NRC identity cards to people included in the final list remains pending before the court in separate proceedings.
Another petition filed by former state NRC coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma is also pending. It seeks a complete, comprehensive and time-bound re-verification of the draft and supplementary NRC lists.
The Assam government has meanwhile sought more time to respond to the Supreme Court on the steps taken regarding NRC identity cards and rejection slips.
With the final NRC still awaiting formal notification, the 2019 list has therefore not yet completed the statutory process envisaged for those included and excluded from the register.