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‘Foreigners’ issue : Centre’s clarification |
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The Centre has clarified to the Supreme Court that there is no provision in the Foreigners (Tribunals for Assam) Order that puts the burden of proving whether a person is a foreigner on the complainant.
Making the submission in court on April 10, Solicitor General G.E. Vahanvati sought time to respond to petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the controversial amendment to the Foreigners Act, which has supposedly made deportation of illegal migrants more difficult to accomplish.
Justice S.B. Sinha directed the Centre and the Assam government to file their affidavits by April 13. The next hearing is slated for today (April 17), when the court is expected to hear arguments on the plea for an interim stay on the February 10 notifications that introduced amendments to the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order of 1964.
Assam BJP leader Charan Chandra Deka said in his petition that the Foreigners (Tribunal) Amendment Order and the Foreigners (Tribunals for Assam) Order notified by the Centre had created a parallel and cumbersome adjudication system to deport an illegal migrant from the state. He claimed that the notifications were aimed at nullifying the apex court’s judgment against the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, which was applicable only to Assam.
Multi-pronged strategy for border management
In a related development, the Government of India has adopted a multi-pronged strategy to strengthen border management to check illegal cross-border activities through a well coordinated action by the central and state security and intelligence agencies.
Disclosing this to mediapersons on April 10, official sources said the strategy included gearing up of intelligence machinery and neutralising plans of terrorist modules and anti-national elements. Other measures include modernisation and upgradation of security agencies, including police with the state of the art weaponry, communication system and accessories.
Periodic coordination meetings are held with the state governments regularly.
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