New Delhi: Once an individual has been deemed a citizen of India by a Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT), that individual cannot be declared a non-Indian if they are subsequently brought before the tribunal a second time, the FT bench of the Gauhati high court has opined, according to NDTV.A bench of Justices N. Kotiswar Singh and Justice Nani Tagia noted that the opinion given by an FT with regards to citizenship will operate under the principle of res judicata – a matter that has been adjudicated by a competent court cannot be tried again by the same parties.The bench expressed this opinion while hearing a batch of petitions in which the petitioners had earlier been declared Indian nationals, but had been declared to be foreigners in subsequent proceedings.Two previous cases While hearing the petitions, the high court made note of two judgements in previous cases on the matter of the applicability of res judicata on proceedings before tribunals, specifically, FTs.First, the bench brought up the Gauhati high court’s earlier judgement in the case of Amina Khatoon versus Union of India (2018) wherein it held that res judicata would not apply to the proceedings of FTs since FTs are not courts and as such, these proceedings could not be considered judicial proceedings.However, the court opined that this judgement was “not good in law” since the Supreme Court had expressed a contrary opinion in the case of Abdul Kuddus versus Union of India (2019). In the Kuddus case, the top court had held that the principle of res judicata will apply even to quasi-judicial bodies.As such, the Supreme Court observed that the decision of a FT in favour of a person determining citizenship will be binding on subsequent proceedings and that there can not be another proceeding to re-determine citizenship. The high court’s present observations are particularly pertinent considering the numerous reports of individuals being declared citizens by FTs only to be pulled up by police again and subsequently deemed to be foreigners, particularly from the state of Assam.Also read: What 787 Cases in the Gauhati HC Tell Us About How ‘Suspected Foreigner’ Cases Are DecidedOn December 16 last year, The Wire had reported the case of one Hasina Banu who had been dubbed an Indian citizen by an FT in 2016 but was subsequently deemed to be a foreigner by the same FT in 2021 after the Assam border police filed a fresh complaint against her under the suspicion of being a foreigner.The Gauhati high court had, in Banu’s case, had set aside the FT’s 2021 order and had ordered her release citing the Kuddus judgement and the principle of res judicata. That bench also comprised Justice Kotishwar Singh, who was part of the bench which was hearing the present matter.The present caseIn light of its present observations on the applicability of res judicata in the proceedings of FTs, the high court, in each petition, ascertained whether the petitioner had been deemed to be an Indian citizen by an FT in an earlier case, according to Live Law.In all the cases where the petitioner had first been found to be Indian and had subsequently been found to be a foreigner, the court noted that the petitioner would be deemed to be an Indian. As such, the court disposed of all the petitions before it in the present case.
