Corruption in NRC: Prateek Hajela skips court summons

Guwahati, Nov 18 (IANS) Former Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) coordinator Prateek Hajela skipped court summons in a case related to corruption in NRC updation process in the state.

Hajela was directed by a court in Guwahati to appear on Friday. However, he claimed not to have received the summons letter.

The magistrate has ordered to publish the court summons order in the newspapers of Assam and Madhya Pradesh.

The 1995-batch IAS officer Prateek Hajela was transferred to Madhya Pradesh through a Supreme Court order in 2019 following threats to his life for the corruption allegation against him during the NRC updating exercise.

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

The IAS officer was given 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 procedures may be initiated against him depending on the outcome of the inquiry.

A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India hinted at large-scale anomalies over the NRC exercise when Hajela was the coordinator.

His successor Hitesh Dev Sarma alleged that Hajela included the names of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in the NRC.

"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 added.

Meanwhile, one Luit Kumar Barman filed a case in Guwahati alleging that the state government has not taken any action against Hajela even after the CAG report hinted about anomalies. His advocate told reporters on Saturday that if the former NRC coordinator does not appear in court even after the publication of the advertisement in the newspaper, the hearing of the case against him will continue unilaterally.