200 Additional Foreigners Tribunals To Be Set Up In Six District Headquarters

GUWAHATI: The State government will be setting up 200 Additional Foreigners Tribunals (FTs) in the six district headquarters of Guwahati, Jorhat, Silchar, Nagaon, Bongaigaon, and Tezpur to deal with the situation arising in the post-publication phase of the final NRC (National Register of Citizens). These 200 FTs will become operational almost one month after publication of the final NRC which will be on July 31. The 200 Additional FTs (of the sanctioned Additional 400 FTs) to be established in the first phase will become functional in September this year.

The Home and Political Department has written letters to the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) of these districts to scout for suitable accommodation for setting up these Foreigners Tribunals. In fact, the decision to set up the Additional FTs in the six districts was taken as it would not be possible to set up the tribunals in all districts of the State within a short time.

In order that these 200 FTs can become operational from September (in the first phase), the Gauhati High Court is also speeding up the appointment processes of the Members of these FTs. There will be one Member and at least 10 employees in each FT. Talking to The Sentinel, Chief Executive Officer, Electronic Foreigners Tribunal project, Ananda Prakash Tiwari said, “An advertisement has already been floated for preparing a panel of 221 candidates for appointment as Members of Foreigners Tribunals in Assam. Meanwhile, the Assam Police Recruitment Board has also advertised for filling up the various posts of 2,000 staffers in the Additional FTs.”

The role of the FT Members will be crucial in the post-publication phase of the final NRC (National Register of Citizens). Names of people whose names will not figure in the final NRC will be referred to the FTs. The FT Members after the hearings and close scrutiny of the relevant documents of the persons concerned, will have to deliver the opinions (orders) as to whether the persons are Indians or foreigners.

The interview process for the Members of these FTs will commence from July 15 while the results will be declared by August 20. Once the entire recruitment process for selection of Members is completed, the newly recruited Members are to join duty by September 1, 2019. Further, it is proposed that a two-day orientation programme for the newly appointed Members be conducted before the Members report for duty.

The Members will be initially appointed for a period of one year “which may be extended from time to time on need basis, subject to their attainment of maximum age fixed at 67 years.”

As per the Gauhati High Court advertisement, the qualifications required of a candidate for the post of Member are that he/she should be a citizen of India; a retired judicial officer of Assam Judicial Service or a retired civil servant (not below the rank of Secretary and Additional Secretary) having judicial experience or advocates not below the age of 35 years with at least seven years of practice. It also stated that “the candidates will have to have fair knowledge of official language of Assam and its (Assam) historical background giving rise to foreigner’s issues.”

At present, Assam has 100 Foreigners Tribunals (FTs) for the detection of foreigners. To tackle the large number of cases that are likely to crop up in the post-publication phase of the NRC, the Assam government had moved the Ministry of Home affairs (MHA) for the setting up of 1,000 Additional FTs. However, the MHA approved the establishment of 400 Additional FTs. Of these, 200 are to be set up in the first phase and the remaining ones in the second phase. All the FTs will be functioning in the electronic mode.

Also Read: Ministry of Home Affairs Amends Foreigners Tribunals Order For Post-NRC Situation