Supreme Court seeks Centre’s response on plea seeking NRC for Tripura

The Supreme Monday sought a response from the Centre on a petition seeking the implementation of the National Register for Citizens (NRC) to identify illegal immigrants in Tripura.

A bench comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph was referring to the plea filed by Tripura People’s Front, seeking registration of citizens of Tripura in the NRC to identify illegal immigrants.

Tripura Law Secretary Datamohan Jamatia told reporters that the state’s standing counsel in the Supreme Court, Gopal Singh, apprised him on the issue.

“We were informed by our standing counsel at the Supreme Court that the apex court issued notice to the state government and central government in response to the petition,” the law secretary said.

“The history of illegal infiltration into the State of Tripura is more than a century-old problem. Therefore, to trace back the history and put all the facts and circumstances in its correct perspective the petitioners are constrained to file a lengthy list of dates and events,” the petitioners said.

Tripura, an erstwhile princely state was tribal dominated but the indigenous population were reduced to a minority due to influx of immigrants, the petition added.

The petition also sought the apex court to instruct the respondents for taking steps in sealing and Tripura-Bangladesh border and increase border patrolling to prevent further entry of “illegal immigrants”.