Rajasthan HC questions need of e-passes, NOCs for migrants entering state

Questioning the necessity of e-passes and NOCs for migrant workers, the Rajasthan High Court on Thursday asked the state government why they were being harassed in the name of formalities.

A division bench of justices Sangeet Lodha and Rameshwer Vyas also sought from the state government the detailed mechanism for both inbound and outbound migrants, while listing a petition that seeks a direction to do away with the formalities for hearing on Monday.

In an affidavit submitted before the court, the state government said that around 21 lakh migrants had registered on its portal, of which 11,53,862 are inbound and 92,550 outbound. It further said e-passes had been issued to 3,11,012 migrants.

Additional Advocate General Pankaj Sharma apprised the court that the government had provided relaxations in relation to e-passes on May 11 and only unauthorised migrants were prohibited from entering the state.

Sharing the state data, Sharma said 7,482 migrants had been brought in by six trains till Wednesday and 16,500 more migrants would be brought in by May 18 in 11 trains, whereas 31,197 migrants and students had been sent out of the state by 27 trains till May 13.

Petitioner's counsel Moti Singh, however, argued that the state government's efforts were not adequate considering the large number of migrants registered. He said despite the decision to bring migrants by interstate buses, not a single bus was run.

Singh also drew the attention of the court to those migrants who have been walking on the highways to reach home and prayed for abrogation of the necessity of the e-passes and NOCs for them to enter the state.

If such migrants have reached the state border, they should be ferried to their respective destinations by the state government, he submitted.

Singh prayed for directions to the state government to send buses, both public and private, to bring back migrants stranded in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh