SC gives Assam time till March 1 to update NRC

The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave the Assam government another two months till March 1, 2016, to upgrade the National Register of Citizens, indicating that it may monitor the progress.

Earlier, the Assam government was given till January 1, 2016 to complete the task.

Extending the deadline, a bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman indicated that it would monitor the updating process and fixed November 5 as the next date of hearing.

The court had earlier passed a series of directions to streamline the updating process.

The court gave the centre and the Assam government four weeks to inform it on the steps taken by it to implement the recommendation of the court commissioner, advocate Upamanyu Hazarika, for securing the border with Bangladesh and stop infiltration.

The court on July 14 had taken a dim view of the central government doing "very little" in securing the international border with Bangladesh to stop infiltration which was going on unabated and with floodlights in place without electricity.