The Supreme Court on May 19 clarified that just having a name listed in the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) does not cancel or overrule a Foreigners Tribunal's previous declaration that a person is a foreigner under the Foreigners Act, 1946.

A bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Manoj Misra upheld the Gauhati High Court’s decision, which had refused to interfere with the Tribunal’s 2017 order declaring the appellant a foreigner, even though his name appeared in the draft NRC in 2018.

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The main issue before the court was:

"Does the inclusion of a person’s name in the draft NRC published in 2018 invalidate the earlier Tribunal decision declaring him a foreigner in 2017?"

The court firmly answered: No.

Quoting the judgment, the court said:

“In view of the decision of this Court in Abdul Kuddus (2019), firstly, consequent to the declaration by the Tribunal that appellant is a foreigner, the name of the appellant could not have been included in the draft NRC and, secondly, even if it has been included, it would not annul the declaration made by the Tribunal.”

The court referred to its earlier ruling in Abdul Kuddus v. Union of India (2019), which had held that a Foreigners Tribunal's decision is binding and cannot be nullified merely by NRC inclusion.

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The judges also highlighted that the appellant could not provide solid and trustworthy documents—such as school certificates or voter records—to prove his Indian citizenship, as required under Section 9 of the Foreigners Act.

“The burden of proof lies on the person to establish Indian citizenship,” the court reminded.

Since the Tribunal’s 2017 declaration remained valid and the draft NRC entry could not override it, the Supreme Court concluded that there was no error in the Gauhati High Court’s judgment.

The Court dismissed the appeal.

Case Title: ROFIQUL HOQUE VERSUS THE UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

Appearance:

For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Pijush Kanti Roy, Sr. Adv. Mrs. Kakali Roy, Adv. Mr. Rajesh Kumar Chaurasia, AOR Mr. Sujeet Kumar, Adv. Mr. Devender Singh, Adv. Mr. Gautam Kumar, Adv.

For Respondent(s) : Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General(not present) Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.(not present) Mr. Kanu Agrawal, Adv. Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, Adv. Ms. Prerna Dhal, Adv. Ms. Astha Singh, Adv. Ms. Sampa Sengupta Ray, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Saurabh Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Adv.