The Supreme Court on November 10 issued notice in a writ petition filed by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind and the All Assam Minorities Students’ Union (AAMSU) seeking completion of the remaining statutory steps under the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process in Assam, which concluded with the publication of the Final NRC on August 31, 2019.

The petitioners have sought directions to the Union of India and the Registrar General of Citizen Registration to issue National Identity Cards to the 3.11 crore individuals included in the Final NRC, as mandated under Rule 13 of the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003. They have also requested issuance of rejection orders and commencement of the appeal process before Foreigners’ Tribunals for the approximately 19 lakh persons excluded, as required under Paragraph 8 of the Schedule to Rule 4A.

It was argued that the failure to undertake these steps has left the NRC exercise unfinished and ineffective, making it arbitrary and violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. The petitioners submitted that the NRC process, monitored by the Supreme Court from 2013 to 2019, has already identified who is included and who is not, and now only the final statutory act of issuing citizenship identity cards remains.

Before a bench of Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice A.S. Chandurkar, Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Indira Jaising appeared for the petitioners. Jaising emphasized that the relief sought is “limited” and pertains only to issuance of identity cards, asserting that the right to receive a citizenship identity card flows directly from being duly included in the NRC list.

However, Justice Narasimha questioned the maintainability under Article 32 and suggested approaching the High Court under Article 226 for enforcement of the statutory follow-up steps. In response, Jaising argued that the matter concerns a fundamental right and involves no disputed facts, while also highlighting urgency due to upcoming elections.

Sibal added that despite six years having passed since publication of the Final NRC, no identity cards have been issued, nor has the appeal mechanism been enabled, thereby stalling the legal rights of both included and excluded individuals.

After hearing the submissions, the Supreme Court issued notice to the Union Government, State of Assam, Census Commissioner, and State NRC Coordinator.

Case Title: All Assam Minorities Students’ Union (AAMSU) v. Union of India | W.P.(C) No. 1030/2025
Appearances: Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Indira Jaising; AOR Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi.