In a significant development, the Centre and Assam government have jointly proposed to the Supreme Court for setting up 1000 foreigner tribunals for detecting illegal foreigner in Assam.
Taking up the case involving the fate of the detainees in the detention centres across Assam, the apex court on Thursday asked for a detailed report in this direction.
The government representatives said that around 200 tribunals will be setup in the first phase and the remaining tribunals will be setup later on.
On this, the bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna asked on the recruitment of judges for such huge number of tribunals.
The apex court asked for a fresh affidavit mentioning the details.
The court also said that if necessary special bench will be setup during the summer vacation to hear the case.
The apex court when asked on the options to deport the foreigners, solicitor general Tushar Mehta said that talks are going on with the Bangladesh government at the highest level.
Mehta said that deporting those who claim themselves as Bangladeshis will not be a problem, “but it may be a problem who does not claim themselves as Bangladeshis.”
Mehta informed the court that the deputy high commissioner of Bangladesh based in Guwhati has been allowed to meet the Bangladeshi nationals in the detention camps.
On the other hand advocate Prashant Bhusan said that the detained people can’t be lodged in the detention centres for a long time.
Meanwhile, the All Assam Students Union (AASU) is planning to be a part in this case.