Skip to main content

Indian HC stays deportation of Lankan Tamil national




CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has stayed the operation of an order dated November 27, 2009 of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs directing a Sri Lankan Tamil residing in Bhavani Sagar in Erode district, to leave Indiaimmediately.



Justice K. Venkataraman granted the injunction while passing interim orders on a writ petition from Jeganathan Prathapan challenging the deportation order.



According to the petitioner, he reached India on March 18, 2007 with a valid Sri Lankan passport and a tourist visa. He registered his name as a non-camp Sri Lankanrefugee in Indiain the Sri Lankan Refugees Register on March 23, 2007, maintained by the Valasarawakkam police, where he was residing. He shifted his residence to Bhavani Sagar on September 9, 2007 and got a certificate from the Valasarawakkam police inspector about the change of residence.



At the time of change of residence, the Erode district police superintendent registered his name in the foreigner category and not as a Sri Lankan refugee. He was issued a residential permit to stay up to April 29, 2009, at the Bhavani Sagar address. He was also directed by the SP to apply for permission to stay in Indiafor any period beyond April 29, 2009. And he applied for permission to stay in India from April 29 to April 30, 2010, due to the ethnic violence in Sri Lanka.



However, by an order dated November 12, 2009, of the Union home ministry, not served on the petitioner directly, he was directed to leave Indiain one month. He applied to the Union ministry to furnish a copy of the deportation letter to know on what grounds he was asked to leave the country. Instead of offering a copy of the deportation letter, the Union ministry on November 27 asked him to leave Indiaat once.



The petitioner contended that many Sri Lankan nationals, who were at present residing in Bhavani Sagar and registered themselves as non-camp Lankanrefugees had not been asked to leave India. Unless the contents of the November 12 order were made known to him and given a reasonable opportunity of being heard, the impugned order would amount to a violation of Article 21 of the Constitution, he contended. – (Express News Service)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ukrainians injured as police dismantle Kiev 'tent city'

At least 10 demonstrators have been injured in clashes with Ukrainian police and another 100 detained in the capital Kiev after authorities began dismantling a makeshift "tent city" protesting against corruption. The tent city was set up in October by supporters of Mikheil Saakashvili, a former president of Georgia who has become an opposition politician in Ukraine. Saakashvili, a critic of corruption in Ukraine, was deported to Poland in February. He said he was "kidnapped" by Ukrainian authorities and removed from the country against his will. Andriy Kryshchneko, police chief of police, said at the camp on Saturday that "two court decisions" allowed authorities to search and dismantle the camp. Police said that explosives and other weapons were found at the scene

ASSIGNING OF PREFERENTIAL NUMBERS FOR LG POLLS COMPLETED

The Election Secretariat announced that assigning preferential numbers for candidates of the Local Government election to be held for 67 bodies has been completed. Preparations are currently underway to hold the polls under the 2010 electoral register, Additional Elections Commissioner W.P. Sumanasiri said. The electoral register of the year 2010 is scheduled to be certified on June 31.

DEFENCE MINISTRY TO INVESTIGATE CHANNEL 4 FOOTAGE

The channel-four footage was an attempt by certain international powers to undermine the country’s economic strength following their failed war agenda, External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris stated. Speaking at a press conference at the Foreign Ministry today (June 21) he said that the Defence Ministry will investigate the controversial footage. Meanwhile, Minister Peiris added that with President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to Russia and the strengthening of ties between the two nations, the government will implement a special programme to encourage more tourists from Russia.