Joint parliamentary panel suspends public hearings on citizenship bill

GUWAHATI: The joint parliamentary committee on Citizenship (amendment) Bill of 2016 is unlikely to hold any more public hearings, at least not before the final draft of the National Register of Citizens being updated in Assam is published. The Supreme Court, which is monitoring the updating exercise, has fixed June 30 for the publication of the final draft.


A member of the committee told TOI, “The JPC was supposed to meet on Thursday in New Delhi for finalisation of the dates for holding public hearings in West Bengal,

Tripura

and a second visit to Assam (upper Assam) areas where as lot of organizations are demanding public hearings. Today we received a message that the meeting has been cancelled without any reason.”

The JPC members during their last visits to Assam and Meghalaya have seen for themselves that the matter is a grave one and needs to be addressed as soon as possible, the member added. “We were decided on winding up all the public hearings in Tripura and West Bengal and parts of Assam as quickly as possible so that we can place our report before

Parliament

in the coming monsoon session,” the member said.

He said that all the members of the JPC are confused over this sudden cancellation of the meeting to fix dates for the next trips for public hearings. “There is certainly someone who does not want the public hearings to take place any more, especially in Assam where the opposition to the bill is vigorous and widespread compared to the support the bill has received in Barak valley,” the member said.

The JPC is also confused by Assam government’s insistence to wait for the NRC publication for taking a decision. "In fact, all parties, including BJP’s partner in the government AGP and BPF have made their stands clear. Only BJP so far has refrained from spelling out its stand. The JPC does not understand on what grounds the BJP has linked the bill to the NRC. The bill concerns the whole of India while the NRC is just about Assam,” the member said.