Guwahati, Dec. 27: The publication of the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam will not be possible before February next year, official sources have said.

On October 6, the Supreme Court had fixed January 1 next year as the deadline to publish the draft NRC and March 1 next year as the cut-off date for the final NRC.

However, sources in the office of the State Coordinator of National Registration, Assam, here told The Telegraph today that going by the current progress of verification of documents submitted by around 67 lakh applicants, it would be impossible to publish the draft document by January 1.

Reports from the deputy commissioners of the state's 27 districts have made it clear that not even a single district will be able to complete the verification of NRC documents within December 31.

"Feedback received from the deputy commissioners indicate that verification is expected to be complete within January 31 on condition that the current strength of manpower engaged in NRC jobs is increased. Such a situation is prevailing despite the fact that NRC workers and officials are working on a 24x7 mode. All NRC seva kendras are working seven days a week and on all government holidays," a source said.

Altogether 25,000 officials and workers are engaged in the verification process.

The NRC is being updated based on the National Register of Citizens, 1951, and electoral rolls up to the midnight of March 24, 1971.

If an applicant's name isn't there on either of these records, then he/she must submit documents that are part of the list of admissible documents issued up to March 24, 1971.

The sole purpose of this exercise is to detect illegal migrants living in Assam.

Sources said a large section of NRC applicants have not submitted their "family tree" records to their respective seva kendras.

The family tree form requires applicants to provide the names of children and grandchildren of persons whose legacy data they have used to get their names included in the updated NRC. This will help create a family tree and prevent unscrupulous elements from claiming the same ancestry.

The All Assam Students Union, which is spearheading a movement for publication of an updated NRC, today accused Dispur of putting hurdles in the way of updating the NRC by transferring officials involved in the process.

AASU chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharjya told The Telegraph that on Friday the state government transferred more than 25 officers engaged in the process of updating the NRC in clear violation of the directives of the Supreme Court.

Earlier, the government had transferred deputy commissioners of five districts, which slowed the process of updating the NRC in those districts.

"Dispur is transferring officers despite a Supreme Court directive that the officers engaged in the process of updating the NRC should not be engaged in any other work. AASU has decided to approach the Supreme Court-appointed committee of retired high court judges to lodge a complaint," Bhattacharjya said.