64 Additional Foreigners Tribunals set for Term Extension

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: Disposal of cases against people of suspected nationalities in the State is, to an extent, faster than what it was before. Assam now has 100 Foreigners Tribunals (FTs) for the detection of foreigners. Earlier there were only 36 such FTs in the State. However, taking the pending cases into account, the Gauhati High Court had to instruct the government to form 64 additional FTs. Based on a proposal from Dispur, the Centre sanctioned 64 additional FTs in 2015, initially for two years. However, even after the expiry of the two-year term of each of the 64 additional FTs, the burden of pending cases on the tribunals was indeed staggering. The situation compelled the government to extend the terms of the 64 additional FTs for another two years. The extended term is going to expire in mid-2019. Yet another extension of their terms looks imminent when the pending cases are taken into consideration.

The statistics speak for themselves. As many as 1,76,964 cases against people of suspected nationalities were pending in the 100 FTs in the State till March 2018. Up to December 31, 2017 since the inception of FTs in the State 90,206 people were declared foreigners, and 29,738 them were either pushed back or deported. Though there has been some improvement in the disposal of cases, yet the number of pending cases is still elephantine.

Meanwhile, the process of appointment of FT members on the retirement of existing ones is a lengthy process. Fifteen FT members have retired recently. The charge of these 15 FTs has been given to the members of their neighbouring FTs. When the member of an FT is given as additional charge of another FT, the pace of disposal of cases of both the FTs suffer. Even as the situation has improved to an extent, the job cannot be well accomplished unless the BJP-led government at Dispur goes the extra mile. The coalition government in the State has its avowed policy of making Assam foreigner-free.

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