Page No.# 1/5 vs The Union Of India And 4 Ors
2026 Latest Caselaw 1835 Gua

Gauhati High Court

Page No.# 1/5 vs The Union Of India And 4 Ors on 6 March, 2026

Author: K.R. Surana

Bench: Kalyan Rai Surana

                                                                     Page No.# 1/5

GAHC010033902026




                                                          2026:GAU-AS:3387-DB

                      THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT
  (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)

                        Case No. : I.A.(Civil)/484/2026

         ASMA BEGUM
         W/O MOSTOFA UDDIN, D/O ATTAR ALI, VILLAGE KHANGKHANG BASTI,
         P.S.- LANKA, DISTRICT HOJAI, ASSAM. PIN-782446



         VERSUS

         THE UNION OF INDIA AND 4 ORS
         REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY OF THE GOVT. OF INDIA, MINISTRY
         OF HOME AFFAIRS, SHASTRI BHAWAN, TILAK MARG, NEW DELHI

         2:THE STATE OF ASSAM

         REPRESENTED BY THE COMMISSIONER SECRETARY TO THE GOVT. OF
         ASSAM
         HOME DEPARTMENT
         DISPUR
         GUWAHATI-781006.

         3:THE ELECTION COMMISSIONER
          ELECTION DEPARTMENT
          4TH FLOOR
          BLOCK-C
         ASSAM SECRETARIAT
          DISPUR
          GUWAHATI-781006.

         4:THE DISTRICT COMMISSIONER
          HOJAI
          DISTRICT- HOJAI
         ASSAM
          PIN-782442
                                                                         Page No.# 2/5

            5:THE SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE (B)

             HOJAI
             ASSAM
             PIN-78244

Advocate for the Petitioner   : MR. N H MAZARBHUIYAN, MR R I BHUYAN,MR. M H
SAIKIA,MS. L WAJEEDA

Advocate for the Respondent : DY.S.G.I., GA, ASSAM,SC, ECA




                                  BEFORE
                 HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE KALYAN RAI SURANA
               HONOURABLE MRS. JUSTICE SUSMITA PHUKAN KHAUND

                                        ORDER

Date : 06.03.2026 (K.R. Surana, J)

Heard Ms. L. Wajeeda, learned counsel for the applicant. Also heard Mr. B. Deka, learned CGC; Mr. A.I. Ali, learned counsel for ECI, Mr. G. Sharma, learned standing counsel for the FT matters and Mr. H.K. Hazarika, learned Junior Govt. Advocate.

2. In brief, the case of the applicant is that she had received a notice of the proceedings from the Foreigners Tribunal, Lanka suspecting her to be foreigner of post 1971 stream. The said case which arose out of reference bearing number FT/H/402/2014, was registered as FT/L/288/15. The applicant filed her written statement and also adduced her evidence. However, the said learned Tribunal, by an opinion dated 22.02.2017, declared the applicant to be a foreigner of post 1971 stream having illegally entered Assam/ India without valid and lawful ground.

3. The said opinion was challenged by the applicant before this Court by Page No.# 3/5

filing writ petition which was registered and numbered as WP(C)/2340/2017. The Division Bench of this Court by judgment and order dated 09.12.2025, dismissed the writ petition without interfering with the opinion dated 22.02.2017, referred above. There is no statement in this interlocutory application that the applicant had put to challenge the said order dated 09.12.2025. Thus, the said order dated 09.12.2025, appears to have attained finality.

4. In paragraph no. 2 of this leave petition, it has been stated that against the said order dated 09.12.2025, by which WP(C)/2340/2017 was dismissed, the applicant intends to a file a civil suit for a declaration that she is bona fide citizen of India. It is further stated therein that it has been learnt that by an order dated 11.04.2013, passed by the learned Single Judge in WP(C)/256/2013, the jurisdiction of Civil Court has been barred for which the applicant is unable to file the civil suit. It is further stated that the applicant came to know about the said order on 13.12.2025 and she consulted her lawyer and decided to file the accompanying unregistered.

5. What is proposed by this interlocutory application by the petitoner is preposterous in view of the fact that the learned Foreigners Tribunal had passed an opinion on 22.02.2017, which came to challenged in a writ petition, which was dismissed by the Division Bench by an order dated 09.12.2025. Now instead of approaching the Supreme Court of India, the applicant proposes to assail both the orders, lawfully passed within the scope of Foreigners Act, 1946 as well by this Court in exercise of jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, by way of a civil suit.

6. The Foreigners Tribunal in the State of Assam, have been lawfully Page No.# 4/5

constituted in consonance with the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 1964. The Supreme Court of India in the case of Sarbananda Sonowal Vs. Union of India, (2005) 5 SCC 665 (para 73), which is again reiterated by the Supreme Court of India in the case of Sarbananda Sonowal V. Union of India, (2006) 1 SCC 174 (Para 48 to 51), has declared the procedure prescribed and followed before the Foreigners Tribunal are fair and in accordance with law. Therefore, it is wholly impermissible for the applicant to be allowed leave to file an appeal against the judgment and order dated 11.04.2013, passed by the learned Single Judge in WP(C) 256/2013 in the backdrop of the fact that the opinion dated 22.02.2017, passed by the learned Foreigners Tribunal had already been assailed by the applicant before this Court by filing WP(C) / 2340/2017, which was dismissed by the Division Bench by an order dated 09.12.2025.

7. It may be stated that by order dated 11.04.2013, passed in WP(C) No. 256/2013, the learned Single Judge had declared to the effect that the issue relating to citizenship being exclusively triable by the Foreigners Tribunals cannot be determined in civil suit and for that matter Civil Court jurisdiction is ousted in such matters. The said order, which is a judgment in rem, has also attained finality.

8. The purpose of this interlocutory application is apparent that having failed to discharge her burden of proof under Section 9 of the Foreigners Tribunal to prove that applicant is not a illegal migrant/ foreigner but an Indian citizen, and having failed in the writ petition, the applicant, by hook and crook, wants to delay the process of her expulsion on from the Country by filing a civil suit, which is impermissible due to ouster of jurisdiction of a Page No.# 5/5

civil Court

9. Therefore, the filing of this interlocutory application is an outright abuse of the process of law and total wastage of valuable time of this Court. Therefore, the Court not only proposes to dismiss this interlocutory application, but the Court is also inclined to impose a cost of Rs. 25,000/- (Rupees Twenty five thousand only) on the applicant by providing that the said cost shall be deposited before the Registry of this Court within a period of 1 (one) month from the date of this order failing which the Registry shall take necessary steps for realization of the said cost in such appropriate manner as may be so advised.

10. Accordingly, the interlocutory application stands dismissed and disposed of with cost as indicated above.

11. Consequently, the un-numbered writ appeal bearing filing number WA/109/2026 is also dismissed.

                                                  JUDGE                 JUDGE




Comparing Assistant