NEW DELHI, March 28 - The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on whether the decision of the foreigners tribunal (FT) in Assam declaring a person a foreigner is final or there should be an appellate mechanism to challenge it.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna reserved its order even as senior counsel Kapil Sibal urged the court to take recourse to its plenary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to provide for appeal against the tribunal�s orders.
�The remedy you are seeking from the court was in fact available with the legislature,� observed CJI Gogoi.
The court is examining whether the decision of the FT holding a person as a foreigner would eclipse his/her name in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam with the government asserting that judicial determination would erase the name of such a person from the NRC.
Sibal said that there should be a right to appeal against the decision of the tribunal in conformity with Article 21 (Right to Life) and Article 14 (Right to Equality) of the Constitution.
But Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who also represented the Assam government, said that there was an elaborate procedure that is followed by the tribunal before it decides on the fate of a person said to be a foreigner.
Sibal also told that most of the people facing proceedings before the FT were poor and can�t be expected to collect all the documents in their support in 60 days.
In the last hearing on March 27, Sibal had asked whether an appeal provision was incorporated. This was struck down by the apex court.
�We gave the right to appeal but the court struck it down saying since the burden of proof has shifted from the immigrant to the State, an elaborate procedure has been put in place and it was limited to Assam only,� Sibal said.
Another senior counsel Sanjay Hegde told the court that the FT was a quasi-judicial body and the decision rendered by it would remain a quasi-judicial decision even if it is upheld by the high court or the Supreme Court.
