New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has informed Rajya Sabha that the data of total number of detention centres are being maintained by the various state governments.

The MHA has delegated the power to the state governments to make the required arrangements to run for these centres or camps.

Replying to a question in the Upper House on Wednesday, the MHA said 100 Foreigners Tribunals (FTs) are currently operating in Assam, the Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said.

The Minister added that the total number of cases pending in these FTs as on December 31, 2021, is 1,23,829 while the total number of people declared as foreigners is 1,43,466.

The total number of people declared as Indians is 1,21,598 whereas 329 persons have been deported to their countries of origin so far, he said.

The MHA informed that the FTs are quasi-judicial bodies in Assam and according to the state's Home Department, initially 11 Illegal Migrant Determination Tribunals (IMDT) were set up which were later converted to tribunals after the Supreme Court scrapped the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983, in 2005.

The MHA has allocated Rs 69 crore till now for functioning of FTs in the financial years 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22, the Ministry said.

The final draft list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) was published on July 30, 2018, to segregate Indian citizens living in Assam from those who had illegally entered the state from Bangladesh after March 25, 1971.

Nearly 40 lakh people were excluded from the final draft of the NRC. In the course of the year, 36 lakh people filed claims against the exclusion; the remaining four lakh did not apply.

--IANS

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