The Gauhati High Court has ruled that once declared a citizen, the same person can’t be declared a foreigner. Giving this landmark ruling, the High Court relied on a Supreme Court judgment in the case of Abdul Kuddus Vs Union of India, reported Live Law portal. The High Court observed that the opinion of the Foreigners Tribunal regarding the citizenship of a person would operate as res judicata.
Res judicata is a principle of law that states that once a final decision has been given by a competent court on a matter between the same parties, the same shall be binding, and same parties and the same issues, cannot be put to litigation again. Section 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure explains this principle.
The bench of Justice N Kotiswar Singh and Justice Nani Tagia said if a person has been declared an Indian citizen in earlier proceedings, then in any subsequent proceedings s/he cannot be declared a foreigner, as the principle of res judicata applies in such cases. The court went on to hold the res judicata principle would not apply to the proceedings that have been instituted under the Foreigners Act and the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, since it is not a court.
As reported by Live Law, in the Abdul Kuddus case it was held by the Supreme Court that if there had been an order by the Foreigners Tribunal in favour of a person determining the citizenship, the said decision will be binding on subsequent proceedings against the same person and there cannot be another proceeding to re-determine the citizenship of the person, by applying the principle of res judicata.
In this case, the apex court had essentially ruled that a person is not entitled to go for the second round of litigation before the Foreigners Tribunals in spite of an earlier opinion to the contrary. Meaning thereby, once a person has been declared as a foreigner, he cannot go for the second round of litigation before the Tribunal, trying to prove his Indian citizenship.
