New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday strongly criticised the Assam government and the Centre for dragging their feet on deporting people declared as foreigners, and questioned what purpose is served by keeping them indefinitely in detention centres.
The matter came up before a bench led by Justice AS Oka and comprising justice Ujjal Bhuyan. During the hearing, the bench quipped, whether the Assam government was waiting for an auspicious time to deport the foreigners. “Even without an address, you can deport them. You can’t continue to detain them indefinitely….”, said the bench, adding that once those people have been held as foreigners they should have been immediately deported.
The bench said the government knows their citizenship status, and asked, “How can you wait till their address is received?” The bench stressed that it is not for this country, rather it is for the other country to decide where they should go.
The Assam government counsel contended that where should these people be deported in the absence of an address? The bench said that suppose the person is from Pakistan, then the government knows the capital of that country.
“How can you keep them detained here, saying their foreign address is not known?”, asked the bench. In the middle of the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared before the bench. Mehta assured the bench that efforts will be made to bring true position before the court and he will discuss it with Union Ministry of External Affairs officials and find a solution.
The bench stressed that people cannot be kept indefinitely in detention centres and indefinite detention in detention camps violates basic rights.
The bench, in its order, said if the state government finds that nationality status verification forms have been sent more than two months back then the state will issue a reminder to the Ministry of External Affairs, and thereafter effective action should be taken by the ministry.
“We direct the Assam government to initiate deportation of 63 persons (whose names have been submitted in the court)… within two weeks from today”, said the bench.
The bench noted that there are two categories of foreigners: one category is where the persons are declared not Indian nationals but their nationality is known, and the other category is where the tribunal has declared that the persons are not Indian nationals and their nationality is not known.
“As far as the first category is concerned it poses no difficulty, as far as their deportation is concerned. Regarding the second category, the Centre will have to tell the court in what manner their cases should be dealt with…..we grant time of one month to the Union of India to file an affidavit dealing with this issue. The Union of India will also place on record the details of declared persons who are not Indian nationals and details of the persons who have been so far deported. Details about the manner of deportation shall also be stated and the figures should also be disclosed”, said Justice Oka. The bench also directed the Assam government to file a detailed affidavit within two weeks.
The bench also asked the government to ensure that proper facilities were given to those in detention centres, and, separately, it directed Assam to set up a committee of officers to visit the detention centres in the state every 15 days. The bench has scheduled the matter for further hearing on 25 February.
