New Delhi: Reiterating its position with regard to rolling-out nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, the Government said that it has not taken any decision in this regard so far.
Responding to a written question, Union Minister of State (MoS) for Home Nityanand Rai said, “Till now, the government has not taken any decision to prepare the National Register of Indian Citizens at the national level.”
The NRC was updated in Assam under the supervision of the Supreme Court. When the final NRC was published on August 31, 2019, a total of 19.06 lakh people were excluded out of the total 3,30,27,661 applicants, which created a ripple across the country.
Replying to another question, Mr Rai said there was no provision of detention centres under the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the National Register of Indian Citizens.
The Minister also said the Supreme Court on February 28, 2012 had directed that foreign nationals, who completed their sentence, shall be released from jail immediately and be kept in an appropriate place with restricted movement pending their deportation or repatriation.
Following that directive, Rai said, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued instructions on March 7, 2012 to state governments and UT administrations to comply with the directions of the Supreme Court.
Responding to a specific query in the question, the Minister informed that detention centres have been set up by the state governments and UT administrations as per their local requirements to keep illegal immigrants and foreigners, as their deportation may be pending for want of proper travel documents.(UNI)