Allahabad High Court: A Division Bench of Govind Mathur, CJ and Chandra Dhari Singh, J. allowed and listed the present petition on 06-03-2020, filed with regard to National Register of India Citizens.
Government of India under the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003 had issued Instruction Manual for updating of National Population Register 2020.
As per the above-stated manual,
“Fieldwork of NPR data collection was undertaken along with House listing and Housing Census, 2010. The scheme for creation of National Population Register, which has been undertaken as per provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the Rules of 2003 shall contain the details of ‘usual residents’ of the country regardless of whether they are citizens or non-citizens of India. It is further provided that NPR is required to be created in the year 2020 and for that, the government has decided to update the database along with house listing and housing census of India 2021 during April-September, 2020.”
Aadhaar Number along with the mobile number, election photo identity cards or Voter ID card number, Indian Passport number and driving license number, all of these of the residents shall be collected if available in the above-said process.
Petitioner’s case is that the data collected shall be the foundation for the National Register of Indian Citizens and therefore, it would be necessary to have a copy of proforma in which all personal data would be provided by a citizen.
Counsel for petitioner Aftab Ahmad, added that, in accordance with Rules, 2003 no adverse decision could be taken by respondents without providing an opportunity of hearing the residents. He also asserted that an objective and fair hearing demands a supply of all material on which respondents rely while taking the decision to place a resident in NRC.
The petition is listed for 06-03-2020 and time prayed is allowed. [Manvendra Pratap Singh v. U.O.I. Ministry Of Home Affairs, PIL Civil No. 6491 of 2020, decided on 04-03-2020]
