Assam govt issues notice to set up 200 additional Foreigner Tribunals in 33 districts for hearing appeals of those excluded from final NRC

Guwahati: The Assam government has issued a notification setting up 200 more appellate Foreigner Tribunals for hearing of appeals of people excluded from the final National Register of Citizens (NRC). [caption id=“attachment_7261611” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] People stand in a queue to check their names on the final list of the NRC outside a Gaon Panchayat office in Pavakati village, Morigoan, Assam. PTI[/caption] According to an official release on Thursday night, the new facilities will be in addition to the existing 100 Foreigner Tribunals (FTs). The appeal against exclusion from the NRC must be filed in the quasi-judicial tribunals within 120 days of the publication of the final NRC. The final NRC was released on 31 August with 19,06,657 of the total 3,30,27,661 applicants excluded and 3,11,22,004 included. The process of NRC update was started in Assam following a Supreme Court order in 2013 and since then, the apex court has been closely monitoring the entire process. The districts and number of additional appellate FTs as per the 23 September government notification are Baksa district 6, Biswanath 5, Bongaigaon 5, Barpeta 7, Cachar 9, Charaideo 1, Chirang 2, Darrang 10, Dhemaji 3, Dhubri 8, Dibrugarh 3, Dima Hasao 1, Goalpara 8, Golaghat 5, Hailakandi 8, Hojai 11, Jorhat 7, Kamrup (Metro) 15, Kamrup (Rural) 8, Karimganj 8, Karbi Anglong 4, Kokarajhar 5, Lakhimpur 7, Majuli 1, Morigaon 8, Nagaon 15, Nalbari 2, Sivasagar 3, Sonitpur 8, South Salmara 2, Tinsukia 9, Udalguri 4 and West Karbi Anglong 2.