Foreigners Tribunals Get Powers of Judicial Magistrate

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has vested Foreigners Tribunals (FTs)—so far unique to Assam—with the powers of a first-class judicial magistrate. The move follows the notification of the Immigration and Foreigners Order, 2025 on September 1, 2025.

New Provisions

Under the new order, FTs can:

• Send persons to detention or holding centres if they fail to prove they are “not a foreigner”.
• Issue arrest warrants against individuals who do not appear in person when their nationality is under question.

Earlier, such measures were enforced only through executive orders.

Legislative Background

The Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, passed in April 2025, repealed four previous legislations and now forms the legal basis for the new FT powers.

Assam Context

• Assam originally had 11 Illegal Migrant Determination Tribunals (IMDTs) under the IMDT Act, 1983.
• After the Supreme Court scrapped the Act in 2005, these were converted to Foreigners Tribunals.
• Currently, 100 FTs are operational in Assam, their number increased after the publication of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in 2019.

Exemptions Notified

Alongside, the MHA has also issued the Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 2025, exempting Nepalese, Bhutanese, Tibetans, and Sri Lankan Tamils from the provisions of the new Act.

(Source: TH)