The Supreme Court of India has issued a notice to Assam Government on a plea filed by 89 members of Foreigners Tribunals in Assam, challenging their discharge from service.

All the 89 members were appointed on contractual basis after a directive passed by the apex court on May 30, 2019, which called for establishment of additional Foreigners Tribunals.

They were discharged by way of notification dated October 14 which has been challenged before the top court.

A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli issued notice to the state of Assam and sought its response.

Foreigners Tribunal deals with cases of foreigners, who have illegally come from Bangladesh or are illegally residing in Assam.

A total of 221 persons were appointed to Foreigners Tribunals in 2019 pursuant to the top court's directions.

The plea filed through advocate Kaushik Choudhury contended that the order issued by State discharging the petitions, is absolutely arbitrary, discriminatory and in complete violation to the fundamental rights of the petitioners under Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India.

During the hearing, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan informed the benches that around 1 lakh foreigners’ cases are pending in Assam.

The petitioners further said that the State misclassified the service by misinterpreting the fact that their service was be decide only National Register of Citizen (NRC) related issues and since NRC is not yet published and rejection slips not yet issued, their service is forfeited.