The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the stand of the Centre on a petition that stated that around 1,700 migrant workers hailing from Nepal are stranded at the India-Nepal border in Uttarakhand amid the nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic and they should be allowed to return to their country.
A bench headed by Justice N V Ramana, which was hearing through video-conferencing a plea seeking direction to the Centre to ensure safe passage to these workers to Nepal, asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to get instructions from the government in this regard.
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"Let the matter be listed on Tuesday, the May 5, 2020. In the meantime, Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General appearing for the Union of India to get instructions in the matter," the bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul and B R Gavai, said.
The plea has been filed in the apex court challenging the April 20 order of the Uttarakhand High Court which had observed that "no direction can be issued to the central government to expedite repatriation of the Nepali citizens through diplomatic channels, as issuance of such a direction would amount to encroachment in the field reserved for the Union Government".
"Even otherwise also, petitioner himself admits that, in view of the pandemic caused by COVID-19 virus, Nepal Government has also declared a nationwide lockdown and no-one is permitted to cross Nepal border," the high court had noted in its order.
In the appeal filed in the top court, petitioner Ganga Giri Goswami has alleged that high court had wrongfully refused to grant relief to around 1,700 migrant workers, who are stranded at India-Nepal border in Pithoragarh and Champawat districts in Uttarakhand and wish to return to their country.
During the arguments in the apex court, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioner, said that Supreme Court of Nepal had on April 7 directed the Government of Nepal to allow its citizens stranded on Indian side of the border to cross the border and enter the country.
In the appeal filed through advocate Satya Mitra, the petitioner has said that "living conditions of the stranded workers are uninhabitable and they do not have access to basic sanitation and health facilities or even food and drinking water".
During the arguments before the high court, the state's counsel had said that Uttarakhand government has established makeshift shelter homes for housing them in Pithoragarh and Champawat districts and they are being given proper food, water and other daily need items among others.
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