Ramlal Mandal and 3 Ors v. Union of India and 5 Ors

ORDER Date : 02.06.2023 (AM Bujor Barua, J)

Heard Mr. SK Ghosh, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Ms. L Page No.# 3/4 Devi, learned counsel for the respondents no. 1 and 5 being the authorities under the Union of India and NRC respectively, Ms. A Verma, learned counsel for the respondents no. 2 and 3 being the authorities under the Home Department of Government of Assam, Ms. K Phukan, learned counsel for the respondent no. 4 being the Deputy Commissioner, Morigaon and Mr. T Pegu, learned counsel for the respondent no. 6 being the authorities under the Election Commission of India.

¶2The petitioner no. 1 Ramlal Mandal, S/O Sudhania Mandal of village Barunguri Police Station Bhurgaon of Morigaon district had been referred and noticed by the Foreigners' Tribunal No. 2, Morigaon in Case No. F.T. 2193/2012. The Tribunal rendered an opinion dated 13.12.2018 declaring the petitioner to be a foreigner.

¶3Being aggrieved, this writ petition is instituted.

¶4In the writ proceeding the petitioner relies upon the voters' list of 1971 of Police Station Laharighat in the erstwhile Nagaon district and presently in the Morigaon district which contains the name of Ramlal Mandal at Sl. No. 271. Reliance is also placed on the voters' list of 1966 of village Barunguri Beel which contains the name of Sudhanna Mandal, S/O Radhalal at Sl. No. 154. It is stated that Sudhanna Mandal is the father of the petitioner no. 1 and Ramlal Mandal of the 1971 voters' list of village Barunguri Beel is the petitioner himself.

¶5To verify the authenticity of the entry in the voters' list of 1971, we also required the petitioner to produce the complete voters' list of 1971 of village Barunguri Beel. The complete voters' list of 1971 of village Barunguri Beel has been filed along with the additional affidavit of the petitioner. A perusal of the complete voters' list of 1971 makes it discernable that it contains the name of Page No.# 4/4 Ramlal Mandal, S/O Sudhanna Mandal at Sl. No. 271.

¶6As the name of Ramlal Mandal, S/O Sudhanna Mandal appears in the voters' list of 1971 of village Barunguri Beel itself, it cannot be understood that he would be a person who entered the State of Assam on or after 25.03.1971. The notice of the Tribunal is also in the name of Ramlal Mandal, S/O Sudhaina Mandal of village Barunguri of the present Morigaon district.

¶7In view of the above, the petitioner no. 1 Ramlal Mandal is declared to be a citizen of India and further he shall be entitled to all such rights and liberties as may be entitled to an Indian citizen.

¶8The petitioners no. 3 and 4 are respectively sons of Ramlal Mandal and as Ramlal Mandal has been declared to be Indian citizen, consequently his sons also have to be understood as Indian citizens and accordingly, it is declared. In respect of the petitioner no. 2 Rajubala Mandal who is the wife of Ramalal Mandal, a question may remain as to whether she is a citizen or not. If the respondents after verification is of the view that the citizenship of Rajubala Mandal cannot be determined, appropriate reference may be made to the Tribunal but without undertaking such process, Rajubala Mandal should not be construed to be a foreigner and acted upon in any manner.

Send back the LCR. Writ petition stands allowed in the above terms.

JUDGE JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010043982019 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/1715/2019o RAMLALoMANDALoANDo3oORS.o S/O-oSUDHANNAoMANDAL,oR/O-oVILL-oBARUNGURIoBEEL,oP.O.o DUNGARPAR,oP.S.oBHURAGAON,oMOUZA-oBOKANI,oDIST-oMORIGAON,o ASSAM,oPIN-o782121 2:oRAJUBALAoMANDAL oW/O-oRAMLALoMANDAL oR/O-oVILL-oBARUNGURIoBEEL oP.O.oDUNGARPAR oP.S.oBHURAGAON oMOUZA-oBOKANI oDIST-oMORIGAON oASSAM oPIN-o782121 3:oJAYLALoMANDAL oS/O-oRAMLALoMANDAL oR/O-oVILL-oBARUNGURIoBEEL oP.O.oDUNGARPAR oP.S.oBHURAGAON oMOUZA-oBOKANI oDIST-oMORIGAON oASSAM oPIN-o782121 4:oMRINALoMANDAL oS/O-oRAMLALoMANDAL oR/O-oVILL-oBARUNGURIoBEEL oP.O.oDUNGARPAR oP.S.oBHURAGAON oMOUZA-oBOKANI oDIST-oMORIGAON oASSAM oPIN-o78212o Page No.# 2/4 VERSUS UNION OF INDIA AND 5 ORS. REP. BY MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS, NEW DELHI 2:STATE OF ASSAM REP. BY THE MINISTRY OF HOME DISPUR GHY-6 3:SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE (B) MORIGAON PIN- 782105 4:DY. COMMISSIONER (ELECTION) MORIGAON PIN- 782105 5:NATIONAL REGISTRATION OF CITIZENS 782105 REP. BY ITS STATE COORDINATOR ACHYUT PLAZA BHANGAGARH GHY-5 6:ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA NIRVACHAN SADAN ASHOKA ROAD NEW DELHI- 11000 Advocate for the Petitioner : MS F AHMED Advocate for the Respondent : ASSTT.S.G.I. BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ACHINTYA MALLA BUJOR BARUA HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ROBIN PHUKAN