GUWAHATI, April 24 - At least 145 more judgements of foreigners tribunals in which suspected Bangladeshi nationals have been declared as �Not Foreigners� would be challenged in Gauhati High Court after they have been referred by the Assam Police Border Organisation for a review.
This is the biggest lot of �Not Foreigners� cases referred to the State Level Screening Committee formed to study the merit of the cases dealt by the foreigners tribunals and challenge the same in the high court. Till recently, nearly 50 such cases were referred by the screening committee for review.
Sources told The Assam Tribune that the judgements in question were apparently passed by different foreigners tribunals without conforming to the �best practice� and leaving several pertinent points unanswered in the final order. �There have been cases where fake documents were submitted by the accused to draw a favourable judgement,� sources added.
The cases relates to those where the respective superintendents of police had prima facie accused the person to be illegal immigrant from Bangladesh, but the claims were eventually turned down by the foreigners tribunals.
The Sonowal government, immediately after coming to power, formed the state-level committee to scrutinize reports sent by district-level committees. However, the district-level panels were done away with recently.
More than 40,000 cases of such nature were identified by the State government, which are being scrutinized by the screening committee. �Only the cases where there are clear indication of misinterpretation are being challenged in the high court,� a senior Assam government official said.
Sources further said that the process would be expedited and �more such cases which are undergoing the scrutiny process will be sent for review in the higher court.�
The state-level committee is chaired by the additional chief secretary of the home department and has senior officials of the police and home departments as its members.
