The Supreme Court on Tuesday criticised the Assam government for the delay in deporting foreign nationals being held in detention centres in the state, reported Bar and Bench.

A bench of Justices AS Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan directed the state government to start the process immediately.

“You have refused to start deportation saying their addresses are not known,” PTI quoted the bench as telling the chief secretary of Assam. “Why should it be our concern? You deport to their foreign country. Are you waiting for some muhurat [auspicious time]?”

The court said that the foreign nationals can be deported even without an address, according to Bar and Bench. “You cannot continue to detain them indefinitely...Once they are held to be foreigners, they should be deported immediately.”

The bench was hearing a petition in connection with the deportation of persons declared as foreigners and the facilities provided at the detention centres in Assam, PTI reported.

During the hearing, the counsel for the state government asked the bench where the foreign nationals should be deported in the absence of an address.

In response, Oka said: “You deport them to the capital city of the country. Suppose the person is from Pakistan – you know the capital city of Pakistan? How can you keep them detained here, saying their foreign address is not known?”

The counsel then asked for time to file an affidavit in the matter. “We will issue a perjury notice to you [Assam government],” Bar and Bench quoted the bench as saying in response. “As a state government, you are supposed to come clean.”

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta apologised to the court and said that “there may be some lacunae” in the matter. Mehta added that he would discuss it with the Ministry of External Affairs officials and find a solution as the issue was not a state subject and had to be dealt with by the Union government.

“On the flip side, the state exchequer is spending on the persons detained for so many years,” Oka noted. “This concern doesn’t seem to be affecting the government.”

The bench then ordered the Assam government to start the deportation process immediately even if the addresses of the foreign nationals were not known. It asked the state government to file a detailed affidavit within two weeks on the process undertaken to verify their nationalities.

The court also gave the Union government a month to provide a clarification on how to handle stateless persons, Bar and Bench reported. It further ordered the Assam government to ensure better conditions in detention centres.

The bench then posted the matter for hearing on February 25.

Last month too, the court had criticised the Assam government for failing to explain why foreign nationals were being held in detention centres in the state instead of being deported.

Indefinite detention of Bangladeshis in West Bengal

During a similar hearing on January 30, the court asked the Union government to explain the continued detention of Bangladeshi nationals in correctional homes in West Bengal even after they have completed their sentences, Bar and Bench reported.

A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said that if an undocumented migrant from Bangladesh had been apprehended and convicted under the 1946 Foreigners Act, then they should be deported immediately to their country after their sentence, Live Law reported.

This Act allows the Union government to regulate the entry, presence and departure of foreigners.

“Once an illegal immigrant from Bangladesh has been convicted for the alleged offence, is it not established that he is not a citizen of India?” the court said. “What is the idea in keeping hundreds of such illegal immigrants in detention camps/correctional homes for an indefinite period of time?”

The bench asked the Union and West Bengal governments to provide a clarification about the role that a state government played in such cases, Bar and Bench reported.

It ordered them to submit an affidavit on the status of the Bangladeshi detainees and the delay in their deportation by the next hearing on February 6.