The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Assam State coordinator for National Register of Citizens to ensure that fair procedure is adopted in dealing with claims and objections of persons against exclusion or inclusion of citizens in the draft NRC.

A vacation Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Aniruddha Bose told State coordinator Prateek Hajela that even though the July 31 deadline for publication of final Assam NRC has to be adhered to, the claims and objections must be dealt with as per the law.

“Your (Hajela) job is to ensure that hearing on claims and objections are done in a fair and proper manner. There is a deadline and a time frame. Just because there is a time frame that does not mean that your officers will cut short the process to complete it,” the Bench said.

Referring to “disturbing” media reports regarding the procedure to deal with claims and objections, the Bench said although the media is not always correct, sometimes it is right as well.

“Ask your officers to follow the proper procedure in dealing with the claims and objections”, and give proper hearing to people on claims and objections, the Bench told Hajela.

The apex court said it has gone through the progress report filed by the State coordinator in the matter and the work is going on.

The CJI told Hajela to coordinate with district level officers who are involved in the process of dealing with claims and objections so that a proper procedure is adopted.

The Bench told him that if he faces any difficulty or pressure from anybody, he can approach the secretary general of the apex court and the matter would be taken up for hearing by the court.

In its order, the Bench noted that all claims and objections will be heard and accordingly disposed of well in time to ensure the publication of final NRC for Assam by July 31 this year.