The Gauhati High Court has expressed serious concern over the poor maintenance of records in Assam’s Foreigners Tribunals (FTs), urging the state government to initiate formal training for members and superintendents responsible for handling case documents.
A division bench comprising Justices Kalyan Rai Surana and Malsri Nandi made the observations while hearing a writ petition filed by Gobinda Saha, who had been declared an “illegal foreigner” by an FT in Nagaon district. The High Court later set aside that decision.
While reviewing the tribunal’s records in the case — numbered FT 2451/2011 — the bench found multiple procedural lapses, including mislabeled exhibits and overlapping documentation. The judges noted that the exhibited documents were not referred to or properly discussed in the tribunal’s order.
“…all the exhibited documents, with overlapping as indicated hereinbefore, are not found to have been referred and discussed by the learned Tribunal. Thus, it appears that the petitioner has not received the desired assistance of his learned counsel, who has failed to mark exhibits appropriately,” the bench stated in its order issued on Thursday.
Highlighting the extent of disorder, the court said it took over two hours — even with assistance from private secretaries — to locate the relevant documents due to the chaotic arrangement of records.
In light of this, the bench directed the Registry to forward a copy of its order to the Commissioner and Secretary of Assam’s Home and Political Department, recommending that the state consider instituting a formal training programme for FT officials on proper case record management.
“Having seen the haphazard manner in which the records of Case No. FT 2451/2011 has been maintained, the court is inclined to direct the Registry to transmit a copy of this order… to consider training programme for the learned members and superintendents of the Foreigners Tribunals in the state,” the bench said.
Additionally, the court directed that a copy of its order be circulated to all Foreigners Tribunals across Assam to encourage improved practices uniformly.
