200 new foreigners’ tribunals in Assam to tackle NRC rush

Guwahati: In what may be called an attempt to tackle the heavy rush of cases in the foreigners’ tribunals after the publication of the final NRC list on August 31, the Gauhati high court has announced the selection of 221 retired officials who will be adjudicating citizenship cases in the additional 200 foreigners’ tribunals.

Any individual who does not make it to the NRC will be immediately referred to the foreigners’ tribunals by the police. There are already 100 such tribunals set up in phases since 2005 in Assam to determine the citizenship status of those referred to them. The state government has set a target of 1,000 such tribunals, of which the first 200 are nearing completion.a

“These 200 tribunals will start functioning next month,” state commissioner and secretary (home and political) Ashutosh Agnihotri told reporters.

The Assam government had earlier told the Supreme Court of its plans to set up more tribunals to dispose of cases of those who do not make it to the NRC. In May, the state government wrote to the Gauhati high court, requesting it to initiate the recruitment process for selection of members of these tribunals.

With a dearth of enough judges to adjudicate cases in these additional tribunals, the Supreme Court allowed the recruitment of retired judicial officers of Assam Judicial Service, retired civil servants (not below the rank of secretary or additional secretary) with judicial experience and advocates above the age of 35 who have practised law for at least seven years. The candidates also needed to have a “fair knowledge of the official language of Assam and its (Assam) historical background, giving rise to foreigners’ issues.”

Of 553 candidates who secured the qualifying marks of 60, the high court picked the top 221. “The newly appointed members will have an orientation programme very soon. They will be trained by senior judges and judicial officials,” Mr Agnihotri said. To facilitate faster disposal of cases, the 300 tribunals will function as e-tribunals and be linked to several stakeholders: the state home and political department, all foreigners’ tribunals, the NRC authorities, the Assam police’s border wing, the election department, and the Union home ministry and external affairs ministry.

Officials in the home and political department said the new tribunals will be distributed among six districts. Kamrup (Metropolitan) district, that covers Guwahati and its outskirts, will get 67 of these, followed by Nagaon with 39, Jorhat 31, Bongaigaon 22, Sonitpur 21, and Cachar 20.