The Supreme Court has ruled that foreigners tribunals, designed to identify illegal immigrants, lack the authority to review their own orders, stating such tribunals cannot act as appellate bodies over their judgments. This significant ruling was handed down by justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan, invalidating a prior order from a foreigners tribunal in Assam that had reversed its decision concerning the citizenship of Rejia Khatun.
In the judgment released on February 11, 2025, the court emphasized that once an individual is declared an Indian citizen through proper judicial procedures, neither the state nor the Centre can initiate repetitive legal challenges against the individual without presenting new legitimate reasons for a review through an established appellate mechanism. This decision reinforces the judiciary’s role in protecting individuals from arbitrary legal uncertainties concerning their citizenship status.
The case revolves around Rejia Khatun of Tezpur, who underwent two separate tribunal proceedings initiated by the state—one in 2012 and another in 2016. In February 2018, one of the tribunals acknowledged Khatun as an Indian citizen after a thorough review of evidence. Despite this, the same tribunal reconsidered the state’s request in December 2019 and opted to continue proceedings against her.
Khatun’s subsequent appeal against this reevaluation was upheld by the Gauhati High Court in June 2023, which led her to take her case to the Supreme Court. Senior advocate Pijush Kanti Roy, representing Khatun, argued that reopening her case was a breach of the legal principle of res judicata, which prevents the same issue from being relitigated.
The Supreme Court’s decision noted that the foreigners tribunal had overstepped its bounds by attempting to reassess its conclusive 2018 judgment without proper legal justification. It criticized both the tribunal and the high court for their oversight in managing the legal boundaries of the tribunal’s authority.
This judgment also underscores the operational challenges and the broader implications tied to the Assam Accord of 1985 and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which collectively govern citizenship criteria in Assam. As of October 2023, over 97,000 cases were still pending in 100 such tribunals, reflecting the vast scale of this administrative endeavor.
The ruling also highlights ongoing demographic and political issues in Assam, where detection of foreigners and their religious affiliations has remained a contentious issue. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) also plays into this complex legal landscape, offering a pathway to Indian citizenship for non-Muslim refugees from neighboring countries who faced religious persecution.
