SC pulls up Assam for laxity over illegal Bangladeshi migrants

The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up the Assam government for filing a vague and unsatisfactory affidavit and questioned its seriousness in dealing with illegal Bangladeshi nationals entering the state exploiting the porous India-Bangladesh border.

Chiding the Assam government over the steps taken by it to contain the influx of illegal migrants in pursuance to its December 17, 2014 direction, the bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman described the government's affidavit as "vague" and "highly unsatisfactory".

Expressing its displeasure and refusing to accept the affidavit, the court directed the state chief secretary to file a fresh affidavit detailing the steps taken by the government for implementing its December 17, 2014 direction.

Giving a week's time to the chief secretary to file the affidavit, the court said that in the absence of a proper affidavit, it would ask him to be personally present in court to give an explanation.

The court said the state government was dragging its feet for years and was still doing so.

It also wanted to know the steps taken by it to comply with its direction of updating the National Register of Citizens by January 2016.

Asking the central government to apprise the court of the steps taken by it to fence the border and patrolling, the court wanted to know the details of the scheme for the deportation of illegal migrants.

The court directed the listing of the matter after two weeks.

The apex court on December 17, 2014 had asked the central government to complete fencing of the border where it is yet to be completed to check illegal migration.

The court had also directed the setting up of foreigners tribunals and streamlining the existing mechanism of deportation of declared illegal migrants in consultation with the Bangladesh government.

The court had asked the central and Assam governments to "ensure that effective steps are taken to prevent illegal access to the country from Bangladesh, to detect foreigners belonging to the stream of January 1, 1966 to March 24, 1971 so as to give effect to the provisions of section 6(3) and (4) of the Citizenship Act and to detect and deport all illegal migrants who have come to Assam after March 25, 1971".