157 contractual workers sacked from NRC in Assam
The Hindu
The authorities of Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) have laid off 157 contractual workers who were engaged in the exercise to update the list of citizens.
GUWAHATI
The authorities of Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) have laid off 157 contractual workers who were engaged in the exercise to update the list of citizens.
The sacking of the circle project supervisors followed the decision of NRC State Coordinator, Partha Pratim Mazumdar to replace the old employees with new ones.
“The employees told to go have been directed to submit all the valuables and documents on or before June 29,” an official at the NRC office said.
The sacked supervisors filed a petition at the Gauhati High Court against the move by the NRC authorities. The court is expected to examine their case soon.
Mr. Mazumdar was appointed as the State Coordinator of the NRC after Hitesh Dev Sarma retired on July 30, 2022.
The NRC exercise has been in limbo since the complete draft of citizens was published on August 31, 2019, excluding 19.06 lakh out of a total of 3.3 crore applicants. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Assam government and several NGOs found fault with the number of people excluded and demanded the re-verification of at least 10% of the names in all the districts.
“We are judges and therefore, cannot act like Mughals of a bygone era ... the writ courts in the guise of doing justice cannot transcend the barriers of law,” the High Court of Karnataka observed while setting aside an order of a single judge, who in 2016 had extended the lease of a public premises allotted to a physically challenged person to 20 years contrary to 12-year period stipulated in the law.
The High Court of Karnataka on Monday declined to interfere, at present, in the investigation against a Bharatiya Janata Party worker, who is among the accused persons facing charges of circulating obscene clips, related to “morphed” images and videos clips related to Prajwal Revanna, former Hassan MP, in public domain through pen drives and other modes.