India Tomorrow
New Delhi, August 21- With the August 31 deadline for the final publication of the National Register of Citizens(NRC) in Assam approaching fast, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said that those whose names are yet not included in the final list would be given 120 days to file their appeal before Foreigner’s Tribunal(FT).
Earlier, such persons were given only 60 days to move their appeal before FT.
The decision was taken by Union Home Minister Amit Shah at NRC review meeting on Tuesday, with senior officials of MHA.
A statement issued by the MHA said, “As it may not be possible for all those excluded from final NRC to file the appeal within the prescribed time, MHA will amend rules to increase the present time limit of filing of appeals in FTs from 60 days to 120 days regarding exclusion from final NRC. The Citizenship(Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Card) Rules, 2003 are also being amended accordingly”.
The MHA statement said that those who could not afford legal help would also be provided legal assistance by the state government.
The MHA said that exclusion did not mean that a person whose name was not there in the final list was being declared a foreigner. “Every individual whose name does not figure in the final NRC, can represent his/her case in front of the appellate authority i.e. Foreigners’ Tribunal. Under the provisions of Foreigners Act 1946 and Foreigners (Tribunals) Order 1964, only Foreigners Tribunals are empowered to declare a person as foreigner. Thus non-inclusion of a person’s name in NRC does not by itself amount to him/her being declared as a foreigner”, the MHA statement said.
