Report No. 175

7-O. Establishment of Immigration Tribunals:

(1) The Central Government may, by notification, establish, for the purposes of hearing appeals from the Removal Orders passed by the Immigration Officer under section 7 M, as many Immigration Tribunals as it may deem necessary and the Tribunal shall sit at such places as may be designated by the Central Government or the State Government.

(2) The Central Government shall also specify in the notification referred to in sub-section (1) the territorial limits within which, each such tribunal shall exercise its jurisdiction (3) No person shall be appointed as a member of any such Tribunal unless he is or has been a District Judge or an Additional District Judge in any State.

(4) The Immigration Tribunal shall not be bound by the procedure laid down in the Code of Civil Procedure, l908 (5 of 1908), but shall be guided by the principles of natural justice and subject to the other provisions of this Act and of any rules made by the Central Government,, every Immigration Tribunal shall have the power to regulate its own procedure including the fixing of the places and times of its inquiry and deciding whether to sit in public or in private.