On a plea filed by 89 members of Foreigners Tribunals in Assam, challenging their discharge from service by the State of Assam , the Apex has issued notice to Assam government
These members were appointed on contractual basis after a direction was passed on May 30, 2019,by the Supreme Court which called for establishment of additional Foreigners Tribunals.
They were discharged by way of notification dated October 14 which has been challenged before the top court.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli issued notice to the State of Assam and sought its response.
The Court has said that we will issue notice. Serve it to the standing counsel of Assam.
The work of the Foreigners Tribunal is to deal with cases of foreigners, who have illegally come from Bangladesh or illegally residing in Assam.
A total of 221 persons were appointed to Foreigners Tribunals in 2019 after the Supreme Court order.
Kaushik Choudhury filed a plea stating that the order issued by State discharging the petitions, is absolutely arbitrary, discriminatory and in complete violation to the fundamental rights of the petitioners under Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India.
While the hearing was on, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan informed the bench that about 1 lakh foreigners cases are pending in Assam
“The plea stated that it is pertinent to mention that contrary to the stand of the respondents, petitioners were on the duty of deciding the Foreigners reference cases at the time of their forfeiture.
The petitioners further said that the State was ill informed that their service was only to work on National Register of Citizen (NRC) related issues and since NRC is not yet published and rejection slips not yet issued, their service is forfeited.
It was also pointed that there are members who were on contractual basis but their service has been extended from time to time.