The Assam cabinet on Tuesday approved a detailed standard operation procedure (SoP) under the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, “to guide” the district commissioners (DC) and senior superintendents of police (SSP) “to expel illegal migrants from Assam and tackle the unabated illegal immigration from neighbouring countries, thereby safeguarding the indigenous populace”.

“Today, Assam has issued a detailed SoP to detect and deport illegals. In today’s meeting of the Assam cabinet, we took a major decision of approving the SoP to implement the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950,” Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said after the cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening.

According to the SoP, if a DC receives information from the police or any other source that a person is a suspected illegal immigrant, he may direct the person to produce evidence for his citizenship within 10 days.

“If the DC finds that the evidence submitted by the suspected illegal immigrant is not sufficient/satisfactory to prove his citizenship of India, he will record his opinion in writing identifying the person to be an illegal immigrant, which shall consist of a concise statement of facts and the findings thereof with reasons,” a government statement on cabinet decisions taken on September 9 said.

The DC shall pass an expulsion order under Section 2(a) of the Act of 1950 with the direction to “remove the illegal immigrant from Assam by giving 24 hours’ time.”

Infiltration remains a sensitive issue in the state and the state government has upped the ante against infiltration in the past few months.

“Once a person is identified as an illegal immigrant and has been ordered to remove himself, the DC will refer the illegal migrant to the SSP concerned for capturing their biometrics and demographic details on the foreigners’ identification portal,” the statement said.

Opposition All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) MLA and general secretary Aminul Islam said the cabinet move was “violative” of the Constitution, the Assam Accord and the citizenship act.

“It was approved with the intention of nullifying the powers of the foreigners’ tribunals (which determines citizenship issues) and diverting attention from the anti-CAA movement sentiments brewing in the state,” he said.