Guwahati: Gauhati high court has directed the Assam home department and the DGP to probe how a passport was issued to a person while his citizenship was being questioned in a Foreigners Tribunal, and fix responsibility on officials who may have erred.The matter came to the notice of the bench when the petitioner submitted his passport among several documents, including voters’ lists, identity documents, a school transfer certificate to in support of his citizenship.A division bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar Medhi and Pranjal Das, while dismissing the plea of Ahmed Hussian of Hojai district challenging the Foreigners Tribunal’s order of 2019 declaring him a foreigner post March 25, 1971, expressed concern over the issuance of passport.The passport was issued to Hussain on May 30, 2013, while the citizenship reference against him had been initiated in 2012 by Hojai SP (border). A reference is a formal administrative or police referral sent to Foreigners’ Tribunal to determine whether a specific individual is an illegal foreigner or an Indian citizen under the Foreigners Act, 1946.“…this Court is intrigued by the fact that a Passport has been claimed to have been issued in the name of the petitioner, being Passport No. K5157665. This Court fails to comprehend as to how such Passport could have been issued inasmuch as, prior to issuance of such Passport, which is effective from 30.05.2013, the present Reference was already pending,” the bench noted.The court questioned how the passport could have been issued when police verification is a mandatory prerequisite and the person’s citizenship was already under scrutiny.“How a favourable report could have been given” in the police verification when the citizenship issue was pending before the Foreigners Tribunal was a matter the court said it could not comprehend.“Considering the seriousness of the matter where a proceedee facing a citizenship issue has been granted a Passport, this Court directs the Department of Home, Assam and the Director General of Police, Assam to cause an inquiry in the matter, cast responsibility and take appropriate step against the erring personnel,” the bench ordered.The authorities were also directed to intimate the HC Registry about the action taken expeditiously.The court noted that the passport submitted had not been proved in accordance with law and “no personnel from the passport office had adduced evidence regarding such issuance.”The court also upheld the Foreigners Tribunal’s Oct 25, 2019 opinion declaring the petitioner a foreigner post March 25, 1971, and dismissed his writ petition.Holding that Hussain had failed to establish his citizenship, the bench said, “We are of the view that the petitioner as proceedee had failed to discharge his burden to prove his citizenship.”The court also reiterated that under Section 9 of the Foreigners Act, the burden of proving that a person is not a foreigner “is always on the said proceedee and never shifts.”The court added that it found no reason to interfere with the Foreigners Tribunal’s October 25, 2019 order declaring him a foreigner post March 25, 1971.On the other documents the partitioner submitted, including voters’ lists, identity documents, a school transfer certificate, the court found inconsistencies in the documents and failed establish his citizenship and linkage to Indian parents before the March 25, 1971 cut-off.The bench, while considering the evidence, observed that the seriousness of the issue regarding the “influx of foreign nationals in the country, especially, the State of Assam” justified the strict evidentiary approach under the Foreigners Act. It said such an approach would further the objective of the legislation.
