The main legal point established in the judgment is the necessity of producing original school records through the Headmaster of the school to establish the information contained in the school certificate relied upon by a proceedee in a Foreigners’ Tribunal.

JUDGMENT :

ACHINTYA MALLA BUJOR BARUA, J.

1. Heard Mr. J. Laskar, learned counsel for the petitioner and Ms. L. Devi, learned counsel for the respondents No. 1 and 6, being the Union of India and the State Coordinator of NRC, respectively. Also heard Ms. A. Verma, learned counsel for the respondents No. 2 and 4, being the authorities in the Home Department; Ms. K. Phukan, learned counsel for the respondent No. 3, being the Deputy Commissioner, Kamrup(R), Amingaon and Mr. A.I. Ali, learned counsel for the respondent No. 5, being the authorities in the Election Commission of India.

2. The petitioner Rejina Bibi was referred to the Foreigners’ Tribunal, Kamrup (Rural) for rendering an opinion as to whether she is a foreigner under the Foreigners Act, 1946 and accordingly GFT(R) Case No. 1695/2017 was registered. The Tribunal had rendered its opinion dated 30.04.2019, by which the petitioner was declared to be a foreigner under the Foreigners Act, 1946. Being aggrieved, WP (C) No. 3970/2019 was instituted which was given a final consideration by the order dated 10.03.2023.

3. In WP (C) No. 3970/2019, the petitioner relied upon the voters’ list of 1966 of village Nahira, Mouza Pub Samaria, P.S. Polashbari in the Kamrup district which contained the name of Hussain Ali son of Satu at Sl. No. 2443. The petitioner also relied upon a school certificate issued by the Headmaster of Satrapara Ideal High School which contained the information that Rejina Begam is the daughter of Md. Hussain Ali of village Satrapara. Although there was a variance in the name of the village i.e. the voters’ list of 1966 was of village Nahira and the school certificate contained the information in respect of village Satrapara, but the said aspect was clarified by referring to the voters’ list of 1977 which gave an indication that Nahira and Satrapara are in fact one and the same village. In the circumstance, the matter was remanded back to the Tribunal to enable the petitioner to render evidence of the Headmaster of Satrapara Ideal High School requiring him to produce the records in original of the school to establish the information contained in the school certificate which was relied upon by the petitioner.

4. The law regarding the acceptability of a school certificate to provide the factual aspect as to who may be the father of a proceedee in a Foreigners’ Tribunal and of which village the father belongs to, was laid down by this Court in its judgment in the case of Anima Das vs. Union of India and Others, (2019) 5 Gau LR 465. In paragraphs 12, 13 and 14 of the said judgment, the law laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in respect of acceptability and legality of a certificate issued by the Headmaster of a school was discussed which is extracted as below:

“12. The law as regards the acceptability and legality of a certificate issued by a school authority had been considered by the Supreme Court in its judgment rendered in Ram Suresh Singh vs. Prabhat Singh alias Chotu Singh, (2009) 6 SCC 681, wherein in paragraph 12 it had been held as follows:

“12..............An entry in a school register may not be a public document and, thus, must be proved in accordance with law, as has been held by this court in Birad Mai Singhvi, but in this case the said entry has been proved.”

13. In Birad Mal Singhvi vs. Anand Purohit, AIR 1998 SC 1796, in paragraph, in respect of certain school registers and other documents being produced as Exhibits-8, 9,10,11 and 12, it was held that merely because the documents Exhibits-8,9,10,11 and 12 were proved, it does not mean that the contents of the documents were also proved. It was further held that mere proof of the documents Exhibits-8, 9,10,11 and 12 would not tantamount to a proof of all the contents stated in the documents.

14. Again in respect of a certificate issued by the school authorities just a few days prior to the date of superannuation of the person who had issued the certificate, a view was taken by the Supreme Court in parag