Context: The MHA has amended the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964,

Changes proposed as per the amendment:

It has empowered district magistrates in all States and Union Territories to set up tribunals to decide whether a person staying illegally in India is a foreigner or not.

The amended Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 2019 also empowers individuals to approach the Tribunals. 

The amended order also allows District Magistrates to refer individuals who haven’t filed claims against their exclusion from NRC to the Tribunals to decide if they are foreigners or not.

Current Practice:

So far, the powers to constitute tribunals were vested only with the Centre. The 1964 order on Constitution of Tribunals said: “The Central Government may by order, refer the question as to whether a person is not a foreigner within meaning of the Foreigners Act, 1946 (31 of 1946) to a Tribunal to be constituted for the purpose, for its opinion.”