Latest news with #ImmigrantsExpulsionOrder
India Today
08-06-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Assam to skip tribunals, use 1950 law to deport illegal immigrants: Himanta Sarma
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday announced that the state will no longer be required to rely on Foreigners Tribunals (FTs) to identify and deport illegal immigrants, invoking a 1950 law to expedite the to reporters in Nalbari district, Sarma said the state government plans to act under the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Order, 1950, which remains legally valid and empowers district commissioners to issue immediate expulsion Supreme Court, during the hearing of the Clause 6A matter under a Constitution Bench, clearly observed that Assam does not always need to go through the judiciary to identify and deport foreigners," the Chief Minister said. "There is an existing law — the Immigrants Expulsion Order — which permits district authorities to act directly. We were unaware of this until recently, as our lawyers had not flagged it. But we will now act on it," he BJP leader also pointed out that many pushbacks had already taken place, but in cases pending before the courts, the state had refrained from acting. "The numbers are increasing, and they will continue to rise if we don't act. From now on, when someone is identified as a foreigner, and the case is not already in court, we won't wait — we will push them back. And if needed, we will do it repeatedly," he acknowledged that the NRC (National Register of Citizens) exercise had slowed down the state's efforts in identifying and deporting undocumented migrants. With the Supreme Court's recent observations and the rediscovery of the 1950 order, he said the government is preparing to resume and intensify its currently operates 100 Foreigners Tribunals, first set up in 2005, to adjudicate the citizenship of people flagged by the Assam Police's Border Wing. These tribunals have long been the primary mechanism for determining citizenship status, particularly of those suspected to be Bangladeshi nationals residing illegally in the Chief Minister clarified that the new approach would not interfere with ongoing legal proceedings but would apply in cases where no judicial process is currently Watch
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First Post
08-06-2025
- Politics
- First Post
Assam govt to invoke a forgotten law to identify and expel illegal migrants
The government of Assam is all set to revive a 75-year-old law that enables the state authorities to push back illegal immigrants upon identification without the need to approach the judiciary every time read more The Assam government is working on reviving the use of a 75-year-old previously overlooked law in a bid to push back illegal immigrants from the state. As per the law, the state will be able to remove illegal migrants without any form of judicial intervention and immediately after their identification. On Saturday, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma noted that a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court, while hearing a case on Section 6A of the Citizenship Act (October 2024), had maintained that there is no legal requirement for the Assam government to always approach the judiciary in regards to illegal immigrants, The Times of India reported. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'There is an old law called the Immigrants Expulsion Order (1950), and during a hearing on Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court said this Act is still valid. Under its provisions, even a district commissioner can issue an order for immediate pushback of illegal immigrants,' the Assam CM said on Saturday. 'For whatever reason, our lawyers had not informed us about this, and we weren't aware of it either,' Sarma added. He revealed that in the past few days, the entire matter has come to light, and the state government will now discuss it seriously. The process of identifying foreigners will be sped up: Assam CM The Assam CM noted that the process of identifying illegal immigrants and pushing them back from the state will be sped up now that the government is aware of the law. 'The process of identifying foreigners, which had paused due to NRC-related matters , will now be sped up a bit,' he said. 'This time, if someone is identified as a foreigner, we don't send them to a tribunal. We will straightaway push them back. Preparations for this have been ongoing over the last few days,' he added. Sarma also maintained that those who have moved courts will not be pushed back for now. In his statement, Sarma was referring to the five-member Constitution Bench headed by then Chief Justice DY Chandrachud . On October 17, 2024, the bench upheld the validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act in a 4:1 majority, with Justice JB Pardiwala giving the sole dissenting opinion. In their joint order, Justices Surya Kant, MM Sundresh and Manoj Misra said that the provisions of the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, 'shall be effectively employed for identification of illegal immigrants.' About the 1950 law The Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950 (IEAA) empowers the central government to order the expulsion of any person or class of persons who came into Assam from outside India, either before or after the commencement of the Act. The act can be implemented to deal with someone who stays in Assam and is detrimental to the interests of the general public of India or any Scheduled Tribe in Assam. The constitutional bench also noted that the IEAA granted 'the Central Government the power to direct the removal of immigrants who are detrimental to the interests of India.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'If there is any other piece of legislation, such as the IEAA, under which the status of an immigrant can be determined, we see no reason why such statutory detection shall not also be given effect to, for deportation. We thus hold that the provisions of IEAA shall also be read into Section 6A and be applied along with the Foreigners Act, 1946, for detection and deportation of foreigners,' the judges stated in their order. It is pertinent to note that the law was enacted even before the immigrants from West and East Pakistan were considered foreigners under the Foreigners Act . According to the Statement of Objects and Reasons, the Act was enacted to deal with the large-scale immigration of migrants from East Bengal to Assam.
Indian Express
08-06-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Assam exploring how to ‘push back foreigners' without involving Foreigners Tribunals, Himanta says
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said that the state government is exploring the possibility of 'pushing back' suspected foreigners into Bangladesh without going through the existing process of identification via Foreigners Tribunals. To support this, he cited a 1950 law, which was issued before the institution of Foreigners Tribunals in the state. He stated that the Supreme Court, while hearing the question of the validity of Clause 6A of the Citizenship Act, had stated that this law is still in force. 'When the Supreme Court had taken up the matter of Clause 6A of the Citizenship Act, that was under a Constitutional Bench. The Bench had mentioned that… that the Assam government does not have to keep approaching the judiciary in the matter of identifying foreigners. There is an old law called the Immigrants Expulsion Order. The Supreme Court has said that this law is still in force. According to this law, the DC has the authority to issue an order for immediate pushback. For whatever reason, this had not been brought to our notice by our lawyers, and we were not aware of it either. In the past few days, this has come to our attention. So we will discuss this,' he told reporters on the sidelines of an event. Last week, Sarma had confirmed that the state is carrying out 'push backs' of people who had been declared foreigners by the state's Foreigners Tribunals by invoking a February 4 Supreme Court order. The top court had pulled up the state for not initiating the process of deporting declared foreigners lodged in the Matia detention centre. Civil groups as well as sections of opposition parties have argued that these 'push backs' violate the procedures of deportation. On Saturday, Sarma said, 'Pushbacks will continue and the process of identifying foreigners, which had been paused because of the NRC (National Register of Citizens), will be sped up again. And this time, if someone is identified as a foreigner, we won't send them to a tribunal; we will just keep pushing them back. Preparations for this are going on.' Foreigners Tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies which determine whether a person presented before them, usually referred by the border police or those listed as 'D-voters' in electoral rolls, is a 'foreigner' or an Indian citizen. Those declared foreigners by these tribunals have the option to appeal against the order by approaching the Gauahti High Court and the Supreme Court.
The Hindu
07-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Deportation may not require legal process: Himanta Biswa Sarma
The Assam Government may follow a 1950 order to fast-track the detection and deportation of 'illegal immigrants' instead of going through a long legal process, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday (June 7, 2025). He said illegal immigrants, once detected, will henceforth be pushed back without referring their cases to the quasi-judicial Foreigners Tribunal (FT) or any court. 'The process of detecting and deporting foreigners staying illegally in Assam was slowed down due to the exercise to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC). We can now push back such people without going through tribunals,' the Chief Minister told journalists at Ghagrapar in western Assam's Nalbari district. Assam has 100 FTs, the first few of which were established in 2005 to adjudicate the citizenship of people referred by the Assam Police's border wing on suspicion of being illegal immigrants, a euphemism for Bangladeshi nationals allegedly staying illegally in the State. Mr. Sarma said that a Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court, while hearing a case related to Article 6A of the 1955 Citizenship Act, said Assam didn't need to route the cases of illegal immigrants through the tribunals. 'The Supreme Court observed that an old law, the Immigrants Expulsion Order (1950), continues to be valid. Under its provisions, even a District Commissioner can issue an order to immediately pushback illegal immigrants,' he said. The Chief Minister said that the State Government, made aware of this order recently, would deliberate on the matter thoroughly before implementation. 'We have already pushed back a large number of people, except those with ongoing court cases. The number of illegal immigrants being deported is increasing and will continue to do so at a faster pace,' Mr. Sarma said. Also Read | Ground Zero: The 'suspected foreigners' of Assam Barrage of criticism The Chief Minister's view on the deportation process follows criticisms of its recent pushback drive from minority organisations and rights activists. On May 28, the government pushed back 14 people — all Bengali-speaking Muslims, who were declared foreigners by the FTs or facing charges as 'illegal immigrants' — into Bangladesh. Not accepted by Bangladesh, these 14 people spent more than two days on the no man's land (the neutral zone on the border between any two countries) before they were sent home in Assam. These organisations accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Government of indiscriminately detaining and deporting people suspected of being foreigners, without proper verification. On June 2, the Supreme Court declined to entertain a petition filed by the All BTC Minority Students' Union, which challenged the Assam government's alleged arbitrary deportation measures. BTC expands to the Bodoland Territorial Council. In May, the Ministry of External Affairs urged Dhaka to expedite the nationality verification process to facilitate deportations. The Ministry's spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, said more than 2,000 verification cases were pending with the Bangladesh government.
New Indian Express
07-06-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Assam to follow 1950 law to push back illegal immigrants without trial
GUWAHATI: Assam will follow a lesser-known 1950 law – Immigrants Expulsion Order – to push back illegal immigrants, a move that is likely to open up Pandora's box, for this is against the conventional process. Stating that the process of identifying 'foreigners', which slowed down due to matters relating to the National Register of Citizens, will now continue at a faster pace, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said: 'This time, if someone is identified as a foreigner, we will not have to take up the case with the foreigners' tribunal to push back the person.' He said during an earlier hearing on Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, the Supreme Court had mentioned that it was not binding on the Assam government to always approach the judiciary in order to push back foreigners. 'There is an old law – Immigrants Expulsion Order. The Supreme Court said this law is still in force. According to this law, the DC (district commissioner) has the authority to issue an order and give permission for pushback,' he said. 'For whatever reason, our lawyers had not informed us about this order and we weren't aware of it either. This came to our attention recently. We will now discuss it seriously. Meanwhile, the process of pushback will continue,' he further stated.
