GUWAHATI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday came down hard on the Assam government and said that it was not treating the issue of deportation of illegal immigrants seriously enough.
“This has gone too far. This has become a joke,” the court said.
During the course of the hearing, the court questioned the solicitor general Tushar Mehta regarding the whereabouts of the foreigners, whether the foreigners' tribunal was functioning and whether the state’s law and order machinery was functioning to implement the tribunal’s order.
The court gave the Assam government time till May 27 to submit a detailed report on the functioning of the foreigners tribunal in the state.
“How seriously Assam is considering this matter is quite evident from the absence of any officer to brief you in the matter. An officer sitting here (resident commissioner) files an affidavit on detention centers in Assam,” said the bench led by CJI Gogoi.
Recalling a 2005 order on the issue, the Supreme Court said, “You must have gone through the order passed by this court in 2005 where this court has said Assam is facing the threat of external aggression... We would like to know what the Government of India and Assam has done about it to meet this threat of external aggression.”
The Assam government has now been asked by the apex court to inform them of the number of persons declared foreigners by the tribunals, number of persons detained at the detention centers and number of persons sent back to the country of origin. Additionally, they have to inform the court of the number of foreign tribunals in the state are considered to be adequate and precise number of additional tribunals required immediately and near future.