Decision of foreigners tribunal will prevail over NRC order, says Supreme court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday held that a tribunal's order declaring a person as an illegal foreigner would be binding and prevail over the government decision to exclude or include the name from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam. A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna was dealing with the question that if the name of a person, included in the NRC in Assam is deleted on the ground that he was a foreigner, then he should have a right of appeal before an appropriate forum against exclusion or dropping of his name. Justice Khanna, pronouncing the order, said that the principle of 'res-judicata' (a judicially decided issue cannot be re-agitated) would apply on the decision of foreigners tribunal.