The Supreme Court has ruled that a Foreigners Tribunal cannot override its own final judgment by re-examining a concluded citizenship issue. The decision comes after the tribunal attempted to reopen a case where it had previously affirmed an individual’s Indian citizenship.
In the case at hand, the Foreigners Tribunal had issued a verdict on February 15, 2018, confirming that the appellant was not a foreign national who had entered from Bangladesh after March 25, 1971. However, nearly two years later, on December 24, 2019, the tribunal entertained a fresh reference from the Assam government and proceeded to scrutinize previously settled findings. The appellant was directed to submit a written statement, effectively forcing a re-litigation of the case.
Challenging this move, the appellant approached the High Court, which upheld the tribunal’s authority to revisit the matter. This led to an appeal before the Supreme Court.
A bench comprising Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan took a firm stance against the tribunal’s actions, pointing out that the state had participated in the original proceedings, presented evidence, and failed to challenge the ruling through proper legal channels. The Court found no justification for the tribunal’s decision to revisit the case, emphasizing that it amounted to an appeal against its own final judgment—an action beyond its jurisdiction.
The Supreme Court unequivocally stated: “The tribunal has no power to sit in appeal over its own judgment. Once a decision attains finality, the only remedy available to the state was to challenge it through appropriate legal avenues, which was not done.”
Striking down both the High Court’s ruling and the tribunal’s December 2019 order, the Court clarified that neither the state nor the Union could now contest the original 2018 judgment. The ruling underscores the legal principle that a tribunal cannot arbitrarily reopen settled matters, reinforcing the finality of judicial decisions in citizenship cases.