Providing a breather to people who did not make it to the final list of the NRC in Assam, those left out may get an extended period of time to approach a tribunal to prove their Indian citizenship as authorities are yet to start issuing certificates citing reasons for their exclusion from the list of Assam’s residents, officials said on Wednesday.

According to new guidelines issued by the Centre, an individual who has been excluded from the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) can approach one of the 300 foreigners tribunals set up in Assam within 120 days beginning August 31.

Since the NRC authorities are yet to start the process of issuing the certificates giving the reasons for their exclusion, there is a possibility of the NRC coordinator approaching the Supreme Court, seeking an extended period, a government official said.

The certificate is necessary to approach a foreigners tribunal to challenge the exclusion from the NRC. The reason for the delay in issuing the certificate was due to the Supreme Court’s directive to the NRC coordinator to ensure fool-proof security to the NRC data, the official said.

The NRC coordinator will approach the Supreme Court only after fully securing the complete NRC data, he added.

According to the final NRC released on Saturday, of the 3.3 crore applicants, 3.11 crore figured in the list while the names of over 19 lakh were left out.

The Union home ministry has said an adequate judicial process is available to those left out of the list to appeal to the foreigners’ tribunals within 120 days from August 31, when the final NRC was published.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to move the Supreme Court to re-verify select data on the final list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam as the party feels that there’s enough room for errors.

According to Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam Finance Minister often referred to as the Amit Shah of northeast, the party would move the apex asking for a re-verification of 20 per cent of the sample data in the districts bordering Bangladesh and 10 per cent of samples from the main land of Assam against the draft NRC.

The draft NRC gave BJP a surprise when many from the border districts, where the population is dense, made it to the list. It was presumed that majority of them were illegal Bangladeshis. Sarma thinks that the list is a “mixed bag” with “technical flaws” in the process of making the data that may have caused exclusion of Bengali Hindu refugees who had crossed over to Assam before 1971.

Trinamool Congress leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also said her MPs, MLAs and ministers have decided to hold mass protests across the state from this week, opposing NRC.

The Assam government has declared that it will take all possible steps to help genuine Indians prove their citizenship and provide legal assistance to the poor. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has also said that exclusion of anyone’s name from the NRC does not mean that the person has automatically become a foreigner as such a decision can only be taken by a foreigners tribunal after following the proper legal process.