The Supreme Court today quashed the UPA government notification that put the onus of proving an illegal migrant into the country solely on the complainant.

The bench of Justice S B Sinha and Justice P K Balasubramanyam directed the Centre to constitute within four months sufficient number of tribunals to detect infiltration of thousands of Bangladeshis into Assam.

In July, 2005, the Supreme Court had struck down as ‘‘unconstitutional’’ the Illegal Migration Detection by Tribunal (IMDT) Act. After its quashing, the Centre, through a notification in February this year, issued the Foreigner (Tribunals for Assam) Order, 2006, which was challenged by AGP MP Sarbananda Sonowal and others.

In the petition, it was alleged that the notification was nothing but a repetition of the quashed IMDT Act which put the onus of proving a person an illegal foreigner on the complainant. The Centre defended the notification, contending that it was aimed at preventing harassment of genuine Indian citizens who could otherwise be victimised in the name of detection and deportation. The Centre claimed that the notification was brought in to overcome difficulties in identifying the immigrants due to their ethnic similarities with Bengali-speaking Indians.

The Centre had argued that the notification did not “in any way” contravene Section 9 of the Foreigners Act, 1946, on the question of burden of proof, as alleged. The petitioners, who were represented by senior counsel Ashok Desai, Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad, had submitted that if the notification was to be implemented it would be impossible to detect and deport illegal migrants.

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