The Gauhati High Court (HC) has directed the Assam government and the Centre to reach an agreement on whether the ministerial staff for the newly appointed members of the Foreigners’ Tribunals should be appointed or not.
On August 3, a single bench of Justice Achintya Malla Bujor Barua issued the order while hearing a writ petition filed by 238 ministerial appointees of the 200 additional foreigners’ tribunal.
The petitioners were represented in court by lawyers KN Choudhury and DJ Das. The Assam government had previously stated that the selection list of ministerial staff for the 200 additional foreigners’ tribunal (FT) would not expire and that its validity would be extended further.
After reviewing the Centre’s communication on the subject, the court stated,” It can be understood that the authorities may be waiting to take a decision on the appointment of the ministerial staff as the process of issuing rejection slips by the NRC upon which it is expected that the number of referred cases in the Foreigners’ Tribunals would be more is yet to take place.”
The court went on to say, ” We also take note of the fact that the candidates who pursuant to an advertisement had participated in a selection process and thereafter became successful also have a legal right to know about the ultimate outcome of the process in which they had participated.”
The court has also ordered the State government and the Centre to file an affidavit outlining their respective decisions in this matter within four weeks.