NEW DELHI: Furious at the officials for declaring hope to the 40 lakh applicants left out from the complete draft of NCR, the Supreme Court today questioned the NRC coordinator ‘on whose authority’ did he speak out of turn to media.
You and the Registrar should be “sent to jail” for this but are only being spared because you have a “big job to do” observed the upset court today, NDTV reported.
Mr Hajela had previously said the people that were left out of the list, can submit fresh documents during claims and objections and also said the NRC exercise was “too premature” and all 40 lakh people cannot be termed “ghuspethiye” (intruders).
Now these remarks from Mr Hajela have triggered a political storm after the opposition has claimed that the government was specifically targeting Muslim community from various states who had settled in Assam in the guise of zeroing in on illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
BJP chief Amit Shah stirred up controversy after he accused the opposition of shielding “ghuspethiye” (intruders) in the interest of votebank politics.
“Don’t forget you are officials of the court,” and “Your job is to prepare the final National Register of Citizens and not to go to the Press holding brief for anybody,” said the SC Judges.
The top court also warned the officials against speaking to the media in the future and directed them to acquire permission to do so from today onwards.
Following Court’s strict warning Mr Hajela apologized to the court and said he spoke to media only after consulting with the Registrar General.