The Supreme Court on Tuesday slammed the Assam government for not deporting 63 foreigners despite knowing the country where they belong to, media reports said.
The top court pulled up the Himanta Biswa Sarma government asking whether it was waiting for some “muhurat (auspicious time)” to deport the foreigners.
Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan asked the Assam government to deport the 63 people who were kept at detention centres after they were found to be foreigners through the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The top court lashed out at Assam after the state counsel said the addresses of the foreigners in their own countries were not known causing the delay in deportations.
Justice Bhuyan said, “Once you declare a person as a foreigner, you must take the next logical step. You can’t detain them forever. Article 21 is there. There are many foreigner detention centres in Assam. How many have you deported?”
Justice Oka has also questioned the state as to why it didn’t reach out to the External Affairs of India seeking help.
Justice Oka also slammed the state government for suppressing facts to which Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, who was representing Assam, said he spoke to the highest authority of the executive and apologised for “some lacunae”.
