NEW DELHI: The central government suffered a major setback on Tuesday with the Supreme Court holding as illegal and unconstitutional the controversial Foreigners (Tribunals for Assam) Order, 2006 that puts the onus of proving a particular person a foreigner on the complainant.
A bench of Justices S.P. Sinha and P.K. Balasubramanian came down heavily on New Delhi for bringing the amendment after the apex court had declared the Illegal Migrants Determination by Tribunal Act (IMDT) as unconstitutional.
The bench imposed an exemplary cost of Rs.25, 000 to be paid to the petitioners, Sarbananda Sonowal and Charan Chandra Deka, who challenged the controversial 2006 order.
While striking down the IMDT Act, the apex court had given necessary directions for the constitution of adequate tribunals to determine illegal migrants, the bench said.
In spite of that, the central government had failed to set up the tribunal and instead had amended the Foreigner's Act, the judges said.
The court directed the central government to set up tribunals within four months for determination of illegal migrants and for their deportation.
The petitioners had challenged the validity of the 2006 order contending that the very same provision that was struck down under the IMDT Act had been incorporated in the 2006 order to give protection to illegal migrants.
They alleged that the impact of the order was to overrule the Supreme Court ruling.
The petition argued that the 2006 order was arbitrary and violated article 14 of the constitution as it suffered from complete non-application of mind.
The apex court agreed with their contentions and struck down the controversial amendment.
