Deportation may not require legal process: Himanta Biswa Sarma

Assam Government to fast-track deportation of illegal immigrants without tribunal process, following 1950 order, Chief Minister confirms.

The Assam Government may follow a 1950 order to fast-track the detection and deportation of “illegal immigrants” instead of going through a long legal process, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday (June 7, 2025).

He said illegal immigrants, once detected, will henceforth be pushed back without referring their cases to the quasi-judicial Foreigners Tribunal (FT) or any court.

“The process of detecting and deporting foreigners staying illegally in Assam was slowed down due to the exercise to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC). We can now push back such people without going through tribunals,” the Chief Minister told journalists at Ghagrapar in western Assam’s Nalbari district.

Assam has 100 FTs, the first few of which were established in 2005 to adjudicate the citizenship of people referred by the Assam Police’s border wing on suspicion of being illegal immigrants, a euphemism for Bangladeshi nationals allegedly staying illegally in the State.

Mr. Sarma said that a Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court, while hearing a case related to Article 6A of the 1955 Citizenship Act, said Assam didn’t need to route the cases of illegal immigrants through the tribunals.

“The Supreme Court observed that an old law, the Immigrants Expulsion Order (1950), continues to be valid. Under its provisions, even a District Commissioner can issue an order to immediately pushback illegal immigrants,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that the State Government, made aware of this order recently, would deliberate on the matter thoroughly before implementation.