Supreme Court quashes Guwahati high court order on 27 'foreigners'
The Supreme Court of India has quashed orders from Foreigners Tribunals and the Guwahati High Court that declared 27 individuals as foreign nationals without proper due process. The court emphasized that citizenship determination must adhere to principles of natural justice and fair adjudication.
Why it matters
This ruling reinforces the legal protections against arbitrary statelessness and mandates that administrative tribunals follow strict procedural fairness when dealing with citizenship status.
NEW DELHI: Observing that the consequence of a person being declared a foreign national is huge and may lead to detention, deportation, separation from family and even possibly leave them stateless, Supreme Court Monday said determination of citizenship must be carried out through a "fair, lawful and reasonable" process even as it underscored that the government has legitimate and compelling interest in ensuring persons not legally entitled to claim Indian citizenship do not secure such status by misusing the process.A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta found fault with the procedure adopted by Foreigners Tribunals and Guwahati high court in declaring 27 people as foreign nationals, and quashed orders, many of which were passed without hearing those affected.
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