The Supreme Court on Monday set aside 27 Gauhati High Court judgments that had upheld decisions declaring several people in Assam as foreigners, saying that citizenship must be decided through a fair, lawful and reasonable process.
The court sent all 27 cases back to the concerned Foreigners Tribunals for fresh hearings.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said that questions related to citizenship and foreigner status are of high constitutional and legal importance. The judges said any decision affecting a person’s citizenship must be made through a fair legal process.
The Supreme Court directed the tribunals to hear the cases again without being influenced by their earlier decisions or the previous rulings of the Gauhati High Court.
The cases involved appeals against orders issued by the Foreigners Tribunals, which had declared the appellants to be foreigners. The Gauhati High Court had earlier upheld those decisions.
The High Court had dismissed the petitions mainly because they were filed nearly 23 years after the tribunal orders. It also noted that the petitioners did not appear before the tribunals despite receiving notices.
While upholding the tribunal decisions, the High Court relied on Section 9 of the Foreigners Act, 1946. Under this law, the person concerned is responsible for proving that they are an Indian citizen, rather than the government.
The Supreme Court’s ruling means the tribunals will now reconsider all 27 cases before making fresh decisions on the citizenship status of the appellants.
Other Reuters-style headline options:
- Supreme Court remands 27 Assam citizenship cases for fresh review
- Supreme Court sends 27 Assam citizenship cases back to tribunals
- Supreme Court says 27 Assam citizenship cases must be heard again
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