Denial of Core Principles of Natural Justice in NRC Appeal Procedure, writes Dharmananda Deb

-Dharmananda Deb, Advocate-

In exercising of the power conferred under Section 3 of the Foreigners Act, 1946, the Central Government has issued an amendment order of Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 1964 viz. Foreigners (Tribunal) Amendment Order, 2019. As per Paragraph 8 of the Schedule to the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, after publication of final NRC, the people will still have the right to Appeal in the designated Foreigners Tribunal in Assam if they are not satisfied with the outcome of the decisions of the claims and objections . They may prefer Appeal, before the Tribunal within a period of sixty days from the date of such order, and on the disposal of appeal by the Tribunals the names shall be included or deleted.

Foreigners (Tribunal) Amendment Order, 2019 providing for a procedure of appeal. The newly inserted paragraph 3A of the Foreigners (Tribunal) Amendment Order, 2019 lays out the procedure for Appeals preferred under Paragraph 8 of the Schedule to Rules, 2003. Paragraph 3A of the Foreigners (Tribunal) Amendment Order, 2019 lays down under clause-1 that the applicant can approach the Foreigners tribunal with a certified copy of the rejection order received from the NRC authorities along with the grounds for appeal. But there is no provision that the NRC authorities are obligated to issue certified copy of the Order in a time bound manner to the applicant. On the other hand, counting of sixty days starts from the date of rejection order by the NRC authority and there is no provision in regard to condonation delay. So, it amounts to denial of justice.

The second denial of natural justice that in the newly inserted Paragraph 3A(10) of the Foreigners (Tribunal) Amendment Order, 2019 that Upon production of the records, if the Tribunal finds merit in the Appeal, it shall issue notice to the Appellant and District Magistrate for hearing and such date shall be within 30 days from the date of production of the records. It means, the appeal may also be rejected at the threshold by the Foreigners Tribunal without hearing at all upon production of records by the District Magistrate.

The third denial of natural justice that in the newly inserted Paragraph 3B of Foreigners (Tribunal) Amendment Order, 2019 which provides that in cases where a person has not preferred an appeal within 60 days under Paragraph 8 of the Schedule to Citizenship Rules, 2003 before the Foreigners Tribunal in Assam, then the Central Government or the State Government or the District Collector or the District Magistrate may refer to the Foreigners Tribunal for its opinion the question whether the said person is a foreigner or not within the meaning of Foreigners Act, 1946.

But the time limit for such reference by the Government to Tribunal is not been provided in Foreigners (Tribunal) Amendment Order, 2019. Besides this ambiguity, it is further provided that this reference shall also be dealt with by the Tribunal as per Paragraph 3A of the Foreigners (Tribunal) Amendment Order, 2019. It is out of place to mention here that Paragraph 3A of the Foreigners (Tribunal) Amendment Order, 2019 deals with the provision regarding procedure for disposal of Appeal. But this provision i.e. 3 A does not provide for disposal of questions/reference referred by the competent authority who are authorized to refer such case after 60 days of appeal period.

In conclusion, since there is no provision for condonation of delay and since there is no time frame within which the NRC authority will furnish the certified copy of rejection Order to applicant and again since there is no time frame the Central Government or the State Government or the District Collector or the District Magistrate are authorized to refer cases after 60 days of Appeal period —- as contained in the recently amended provisions as discussed above, it is widely felt that the whole exercise may amount to denial of justice.

(The author is a practicing Lawyer in various courts of Assam. He can be contacted at ddebadvocate@gmail.com)