The Gauhati High Court has ‘recalled’ 5,000 cases from the 100 Foreigners Tribunals (FTs) to assess the performance of the Members, The Assam Tribune reported.
“The Court would select 50 cases from each of the 100 tribunals,” the newspaper quoted a source as saying.
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This comes after serious ‘discrepancies’ were detected in several orders of the FTs wherein the accused were declared as ‘Not Foreigner’, contrary to the claims of the Assam Police.
The Gauhati High Court had recently set aside nearly 300 judgments of FTs in which it had declared the accused as ‘Not Foreigner’, without following procedural norms.
These include 188 cases dealt by the tribunal located at Juria (Nagaon), besides 30 other references vis-à-vis the tribunal located at Dhing (Nagaon).
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Further, the Court has also ordered seizure of documents related to nearly 400 FT orders passed in the recent past, especially in Morigaon and Kamrup districts, meaning that the tally of such cases may go up.
The Court, in response to petitions, including a Public Interest Litigation, has expressed displeasure at the procedural lapses by the Members.
According to the newspaper all the cases that have been set aside by the High Court would be sent for re-appeal.
A Home department official, when contacted, said that the performance of the Members of the Tribunal is being continuously reviewed by the Court, and we are also keeping a close watch.
The state-level screening committee constituted to examine such cases has been recommending for its review before the High Court on a regular basis.
The State Government, pursuance of the approval conveyed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, had relieved as many as 19 Members of the Foreigners Tribunals (FTs) for their underperformance in June last year.
The Home department had also issued warning to another 15 Members of the FTs asking them to improve their efficacy by accelerating the rate of disposal of cases.