Foreigners Tribunals
What are Foreigners Tribunals?
Foreigners Tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies whose job is to decide whether a person accused of being a foreigner (i.e., not an Indian citizen) actually is one. In Assam, these have played a major role especially after the NRC (National Register of Citizens) exercise, which flagged many people whose citizenship needs verification.
What are the recent changes?
Several changes have been made recently, in laws, procedures, and powers of FTs. Key among them: Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 & The Immigration and Foreigners Order, 2025 The government has replaced previous older orders (such as the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 1964) with a new Order under the Immigration & Foreigners Act, 2025. This gives FTs more powers, including the power to order detention of people declared foreigners (or unable to prove their Indian nationality) in designated camps. Empowerment to act as First-Class Judicial Magistrates (in Assam context) Under new rules, FTs in Assam have been empowered to issue arrest warrants if a person fails to appear, and detain persons whose nationality is contested, etc.
Use of Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950 to bypass FTs in certain cases Assam government is now invoking this 1950 law to allow District Commissioners (DCs) or senior state police officials to identify and expel illegal immigrants without going through FTs in certain circumstances.
A new SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) has been approved by the Assam cabinet to expel illegal foreigners within 10 days (bypass the longer Tribunal route) when credible information is available.
Dropping of certain cases under Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) Assam has directed districts to drop pending FT cases for non-Muslim illegal foreigners who had entered on or before 31 December 2014, in line with CAA provisions. Withdrawal of cases against certain communities The Assam government withdrew thousands of pending FT cases against the Koch Rajbongshi community, ending their “doubtful voter” (D-voter) tag. Supreme Court rulings clarifying the limits of Tribunal powers One important decision (Rejia/Rezia Khatun case) held that a Foreigners Tribunal cannot reopen or review its own order once it has declared a person a citizen (i.e. rejected the status of foreigner).