In an unprecedented order of its type, the Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre and the Assam Government to immediately transfer the State’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) Coordinator Prateek Hajela to Madhya Pradesh for the maximum period possible. Hajela has been facing threats and criticism from several quarters for exclusion of names from the updated NRC list.

A native of Madhya Pradesh and a 1995 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre with BTech in Electronics from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Hajela was appointed the NRC coordinator by the top court to oversee the mammoth and sensitive exercise of finalising and publication of Assam NRC data.

A special Bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices SA Bobde and RF Nariman ordered the inter-cadre transfer of Hajela on deputation to his native State for maximum possible period.

Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, sought to know the reason behind the unprecedented order of the top court, to which the CJI responded, “can any order be passed without a cause or reason”. The Bench, however, did not specify the cause or the reason for passing the order, leading to speculation that the officer might be apprehending some kind of threat.

Two FIRs were filed last month against Hajela for “discrepancies” in the final updated NRC list. A lawyer and indigenous Muslim students’ organisation — All Assam Goriya-Moriya Yuva Chatra Parishad (AAGMYCP) — filed separate FIRs against Hajela in Dibrugarh and Guwahati.

Chandan Mazumdar, whose name does not figure in the final NRC list, filed the complaint against Hajela at Dibrugarh police station. Mazumdar alleged that he had submitted all documents, but his name was not included in the updated NRC due to “inefficiency and criminal conspiracy of employees”.

The FIR held Hajela responsible for “discrepancies”, as he was tasked with supervising the NRC updation exercise in Assam.

Another complaint was lodged against the NRC coordinator at Guwahati’s Latasil police station by the AAGMYCP, claiming “deliberate” anomalies in the final list. “The names of many indigenous people were excluded from the list, and it was done deliberately by the NRC State Coordinator,” the FIR filed by the students organisation said.

Meanwhile, IG (Special Branch) Hiren Nath said no report was sought from Assam police about threat to Hajela.

“Reports about threat perception to Hajela have not been sought from us. There have been, however, criticism against Hajela in the social media. Various organisations in Assam are vocal on the NRC with many speaking against the NRC and the State Coordinator,” he said.