JUH files petition in Supreme Court against controversial notification of new state coordinator
New order goes against Supreme Court directives: Maulana Syed Arshad Madani
Staff Reporter / New Delhi
Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind led by Maulana Syed Arshad Madani has said that a new game has been launched in Assam to exclude Muslims from National Register of Citizens, NRC as the new State Coordinator, Hitesh Dev Sarma, issued a notification to all the District Registrars of Citizen Registration (DRSR).
The Notification issued on October 13, said that it has come to notice that the names of many such illegal persons and their ancestors have included in NRC.
“Those who are either suspicious or de-voters or have been declared foreigners by the Foreign Tribunal, all such people should be removed from NRC because they are foreigners” said the notification.
He referred to Section 4 (3) of the Citizenship Act (Registration of Citizens and Issuance of National Identity Card) 2003, in which he said that before the publishing of the final list of NRC in Assam, the names of such people can be verified, while the reality is that after the publishing of the partial list of NRC on July 23, 2019, the Center and Assam Government were seeking re-verification against people whose relatives are not included in the NRC, but at that time Supreme Court rejected their petitions, saying that there is no need for re-verification or NRC, the final list of NRC should be published by August 31, 2019.
Although Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind had filed an appeal in Supreme Court to keep D-Voter on hold, the state coordinator says that they cannot be put on hold, they are foreigners so their names should be removed from NRC.
It is worth mentioning that this is the same Hitesh Dev Sarma who had been controversial in his statements regarding Assam citizenship even before he became the state coordinator. Immediately after he became the state coordinator, Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind filed a petition in Supreme Court questioning his appointment. It argued that Mr. Sharma is not impartial, and has already made headlines with his provocative statements in which he had targeted a certain section. So how can such a person be given such an important responsibility as a state coordinator? Supreme Court had sought a reply from the Center and the Assam government but no reply has been filed by them so far. The matter is pending in the court. In such a case, why can the State Coordinator issue such an order?
One the other hand, there is also a monitoring bench of Supreme Court which is constantly monitoring the Assam citizenship issue. In such a scenario, a big question arises as to whether the State Coordinator has taken the Monitoring Bench into confidence before issuing such an order. If not, has he not exceeded his authority by doing so?
On the basis of these important questions, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, Jamiat Ulama Assam and All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) are going to file a petition through Advocate on Record Fuzail Ayyubi for challenging the latest order of the State Coordinator in Supreme Court today.
Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind and Jamiat Ulama-i-Assam have been fighting successfully a legal battle on the basis of humanity since day one in the issue of Assam citizenship. The people of Jamiat Ulama Assam are also providing legal aid to the people at the local level.
Reacting to the recent development, Maulana Arshad Madani, President Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, said that the sectarian forces have failed in Assam. They are deeply disappointed in the target he set for the NRC, so now, with fresh tricks; they are once again deliberately trying to establish sectarian disorder by creating an atmosphere of fear in the state.
He said that during the entire NRC process, these forces tried to obstruct in various ways but at every step, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind stood in their way as an iron wall, and now the new state coordinator has come up with a new tactic. Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind is going to Supreme Court with full preparation against it as well. Maulana Madani said that first of all, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind will take up the matter challenging the appointment of the new coordinator in the court, and which has been pending since last January. He also said that everything about NRC is clear like a crystal. In such a case, adopting such a new tactic shows that there is a fishy in their intentions and such a notification has been issued only under a special plan.
He said that the Assam citizenship case is being monitored by a monitoring bench of Supreme Court and the status of the state coordinator is merely a mediator. In such a situation, the basic question arises, in the presence of the Monitoring Bench, in what capacity did the State Coordinator issue such an order? Did they take the monitoring bench into confidence? If not, did they not exceed their authority by doing so? Maulana Madani said that in principle, his order is a clear violation of the directive given by the Supreme Court from time to time. He explained that out of the 1.9 million people who have been left out of the NRC, according to our information, a large number of them are real citizens of Assam. They also have all the documents but still their names were not included in NRC.
In that case, the state coordinator should have ensured their access to the legal process. Supreme Court has also directed clearly that all such people should be given a chance to prove their citizenship, but instead of doing so, the new State Coordinator is going to take measures to exclude those whose names are already include in NRC. Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind will not allow this to happen and will fight for it vigorously.
