Assam NRC coordinator calls his predecessor Prateek Hajela 'traitor'

Guwahati, Aug 3 (IANS) Assam NRC coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma has called his predecessor Prateek Hajela a "traitor" for allegedly including names of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in the list during the updation exercise of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the northeastern state.

Dev Sarma's remarks came after the Assam government accepted the VRS application of Hajela. 

"Prateek Hajela is a traitor and he included the names of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in the NRC through wrongful means which is a huge crime. It is a threat to national security," he told IANS.

According to him, the state government should not have allowed the VRS application of Hajela and the IAS officer was to be suspended for his alleged involvement in the NRC scam. 

"Although the state government has every right to allow or disallow any employee's VRS application, it, however, would have been ideal if Hajela was placed under suspension rather than allowing him to get VRS," Dev Sarma said. 

Hajela was transferred to Madhya Pradesh through a Supreme Court order in 2019 after assuming threats to his life for the corruption allegation against him during the NRC updating exercise. 

However, after completion of three years of deputation, he was again transferred to Assam, but Hajela applied for VRS instead of coming back to Assam. 

Prior to his retirement in July 2022, Dev Sarma submitted two complaints claiming corruption and money laundering by his predecessor Hajela, one with the Assam Police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the other with the CM's vigilance and anti-corruption cell. 

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had also earlier criticised Hajela, and claimed that the published final draft of NRC was not error-free due to Hajela's "scam". 

Following a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, hinting about anomalies over the NRC exercise, the state government also filed a lawsuit against Hajela. 

The IAS officer was allowed to take VRS by the Assam government on some conditions and his pension benefits are kept in abeyance.

 Also, as an investigation is going on against Hajela, at any time departmental procedure may be initiated against him depending on the outcome of the inquiry. 

The state government has even requested the apex court to conduct at least 20 per cent re-verification of the names that were included in the NRC especially in the Assam districts adjacent to the India-Bangladesh border.