The NRC authority is considering action against senior a Assam government official for alleged irregularities in checking documents of people from Chamaria and some nearby areas in Kamrup district after which re-verification had to be done.
Kamrup Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kumar Baishya has sent a report to the NRC State Coordinator Prateek Hajela about two months back on the alleged irregularities by a former Circle Officer of Chamaria under his district which came to light in 2018.
The report noted how the then Circle Officer allegedly made all the affected people Original Inhabitants (OI) only to reduce his workload, the sources claimed.
He had allegedly ticked the OI column for all the people, including Hindus and Muslims, in the verification list, which lessened his burden for cross-checking the documents as well as the tedious process of finding out the family tree of the applicants, they said.
“It is not a corruption-related case. The DC’s enquiry has found out that the official’s quality of verification was very poor and he was not sincere about his duties,” a source said.
The sources that the irregularities were initially detected around September 2018, after which the Kamrup district administration swung into action and found that it was affecting the entire Chamaria revenue circle.
The NRC (National Register of Citizens) authority was then informed about the development and after much deliberations, it was decided to hold reverification in these areas.
“It was a good pro-active decision by the NRC authority to hold the reverification process.
“This shows that they are serious about bringing out an error-free NRC within the deadline,” a source close to the development said.
The NRC authority has taken the report very seriously and is likely to recommend strong action against the erring bureaucrat, who is an Assam Civil Services official, the sources confirmed.
No official comment could be obtained from the NRC Office as the Supreme Court had barred them from talking to the media.
The deadline to publish the final NRC is August 31.
The errant official was transferred from Chamaria early last year. A new Circle Officer was appointed in Chamaria, but he left the place within months seeking a voluntary transfer.
