Guwahati: Gauhati High Court on Friday set aside the Assam government's order to terminate the services of 19 members (presiding officers) of foreigners tribunals in the state.

This is being seen as the second setback to the state government after the high court on Thursday quashed the order for detaining Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti leader Akhil Gogoi under the National Security Act.

Dispur had taken the decision to discontinue the services of the foreigners tribunals members in June following a performance review by the home department.

During the review, the government found that the performance of 34 members was not up to the mark. It decided not to extend the term of 19 members while the remaining 15 were given a warning to improve their performance within the next six months by accelerating the rate of disposal of cases.

Aggrieved at the government's decision, some of the tribunal members, who were denied extension, had challenged the government order in the high court.

Assistant solicitor general of India Subhash Chandra Keyal said Friday's order was passed by a single-judge bench of Justice Arup Kumar Goswami.

"The high court said it will review the performance of these tribunals members and take an appropriate decision," he said.

The ousted foreigners tribunals members who moved the high court are Kartik Chandra Roy of Dhubri FT, Ashim Kumar Baruah of Kamrup FT number 3, Giti Kakati of Kamrup FT number 4, Mamoni Rajkumari of Nagaon FT number 6 and Indranee Bordoloi of Lakhimpur FT number 2.

At present, there are 100 foreigners tribunals in Assam which are responsible for deciding citizenship-related matters of individuals suspected to be illegal migrants.

As on March 31 this year, 1,95,968 cases are pending before the tribunals. Till March 31, they disposed of 84,721 cases in which 21,676 were declared "foreigners" and 63,045 "not foreigners".

A source said the Assam government is unhappy with a number of orders passed by a section of tribunal members, where the individuals in question were declared as "not foreigners", contrary to submissions made by police.

The state government has already challenged 25 such orders in the court and will challenge more such orders shortly.

It had constituted state and district-level committees last year to screen tribunal orders that went in favour of suspected illegal migrants.