File affidavit within four weeks: Gauhati High Court to Centre

GUWAHATI: Differences in opinions over the work to be assigned for Members of the 200 Additional FTs (Foreigners' Tribunals) in Assam, have cropped up between the Central and State governments. This was reflected during a hearing (case: WP(C) 1754/2015) related to the FTs on Wednesday.

Hence, Justice Suman Shyam of the Gauhati High Court asked the Central government to file an affidavit within four weeks.

With regard to an earlier query (dated: August 28, 2020) from the High Court as to whether the newly recruited Members of the FTs have been assigned any place of posting yet or not, the Joint Secretary, Home & Political Department, Government of Assam, filed its affidavit on September 28, 2020.

The affidavit said that "the newly recruited Members of the FTs have not been assigned any place of posting as yet. These Members will have to deal with appeals against the 'Rejection Slips' issued by the authorities of NRC (National Register of Citizens)."

Stating "The purpose for which they were recruited, have not taken place due to the non-issuance of the Rejection Slips", the affidavit added, "Therefore, the State Government cannot utilize their services in any other manner, other than their mandated work."

With regard to another query as to whether the services of the appointed Members of the 200 Additional FTs can be utilized for disposal of reference cases pending before the existing FTs, the State government in its affidavit stated that "their services cannot be utilized for disposal of reference cases pending before the existing FTs".

As on date, there are 100 existing FTs – which are also operational — across Assam.

Pertaining to a query as to whether the Government has initiated any steps for utilizing the services of the staff recruited for manning the 200 Additional FTs (and if so, whether there is any concrete proposal on that behalf), the State government stated in the affidavit that the appointment of the selected ministerial staff against the 200 Additional FTs is contingent upon operationalization of those FTs. Since these Tribunals have not yet started functioning it is not possible to utilize their services.

On the other hand, the submission from the Central government (before the Court) is as follows:

SC Keyal — Assistant Solicitor General of India, appearing for the Union of India as well as the NRC Coordinator — submitted that the Draft NRC for Assam is yet to be accepted by the Registrar General of India (RGI). Since there are a number of applications pending before the Supreme Court seeking re-verification of the NRC records and for preparation of a fresh NRC, the authorities are not in a position to issue rejection slips as on date.

Keyal, however, submitted that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) would have no objection if the newly recruited FT Members are assigned duty to dispose of the reference cases pending before the various Tribunals in Assam.

The Court then observed, "The aforesaid submission of Mr. Keyal prima-facie appears to be in contradiction" with the stand taken by the State government in the affidavit.

This next hearing on the matter is on November 20, 2020.

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