Include ex-top bureaucrats with judicial experience: SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday gave its nod for the creation of 200 additional foreigners tribunals in Assam to determine whether a person under a scanner is a citizen or a foreign national who had illegally entered India.

Giving its nod for the setting up of 200 additional foreigners tribunals to deal with the mammoth problem of illegal migrants in Assam, the vacation bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Aniruddha Bose said that the authorities “shall ensure that 200 additional foreigners tribunals are functional on or before 1st September, 2019.”

While approving the appointment of lawyers not below the age of 35 years with seven years practice and the retired judicial officers from the Assam judicial service as the members of the foreigners tribunals, the top court modified the qualification of retired civil servants adding that they must have judicial exposer.

Modifying the proposal to have retried Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, not below the rank of secretary/additional secretary having experience in quasi-judicial works as third category of tribunal members, the top court today said that the retired IAS officers “having judicial experience” can be the members of tribunals.

The appointment of retired bureaucrats with judicial experience, the court today said that it would satisfy the requirement of clause 2(2) of the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 1964.