In 2018, Tribunal Court-4 of Assam’s Cachar district found five members of a family to be aliens.
The Guwahati High Court found that the concept of res judicata, which prohibits reopening of the same matter by the same parties after a decision has been issued, was relevant to the Foreigners Tribunals in Assam.
A two-member panel of the court stated in a ruling issued last week that a person cannot be taken before the Foreigners Tribunals a second time and proclaimed a foreigner if they have already been declared an Indian.
This is noteworthy, because there have been a number of cases in which a person was tried for their nationality by the tribunals despite having previously been pronounced an Indian citizen.
The court’s ruling was based on an order issued by the Supreme Court in May 2019 (Abdul Kuddus vs. Union of India) while considering a series of petitions filed by such individuals. Concurrently, it clarified a 2018 Guwahati High Court ruling (Amina Khatoon vs. State of Assam) that had ruled that the principle of ‘res judicata’ did not apply to foreigners’ tribunals since they were simply quasi-judicial bodies and not full-fledged courts. In its most recent ruling, the Guwahati High Court ruled that the 2018 verdict “is no longer good law” and “may no longer be relied upon.”
People in the court said, “In this case, the Tribunal must first find out if the petitioner is the same person who was dealt with in the previous case.” Thus, the question of whether the petitioner is the same person who went to court before or not is the only one that can be looked into. As soon as the person’s identity was confirmed, it didn’t need to be looked at by the courts again because they already knew who they were, the court said.
In December 2021, the Guwahati High Court overturned a decision issued by a Foreigners’ Tribunal proclaiming a Darrang district resident to be a foreigner, noting that the same Foreigners’ Tribunal had previously determined her to be an Indian citizen. It had also referenced the idea of res judicata at that time.
Published by – Mohit Maurya
Edited by – Chhavi Chaudhary
