Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said that the Assam government does not need to go to court every time to deport illegal foreigners, as it can use an old law passed in 1950.
Talking to reporters in Nalbari, he said that the Supreme Court recently said that the Immigrants (Expulsion From Assam) Act, 1950, is still valid, and the state government can use it to deport illegal foreigners without approaching courts.
The state 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, the chief minister 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.”
A closer reading of the law
The Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, states that if the Central Government is of opinion that the presence of any person or persons who come into Assam from outside is detrimental to the interests of the general public of India or of any section of public or of any Scheduled Tribe in Assam, the Central Government may direct them to leave Assam, and issue orders to remove them from Assam. While this power has been given to the central govt, the Act empowers the central govt to delegate the power to any officer of the central government or any officer of the governments of Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland.
SC on the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950
While upholding the validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship in Assam in the judgement issued in October 2024, the Supreme Court said, “The provisions of the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950 shall also be read into Section 6A and shall be effectively employed for the purpose of identification of illegal immigrants.” The Supreme Court also stated the Immigrants Expulsion law is not contradictory to the of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, and both can co-exist.
Himanta Sarma's rationale behind usage of this provision
Explaining the rationale behind using the provision, he said that for some reason, this provision was somehow forgotten, and it was also not told by the government lawyers. The existence of this law came to light recently. Therefore, the state govt will use this act to pushback illegal immigrants. “From now on, after illegal immigrants are identified, there will be no need to send the matter to Tribunals, we will immediately pushback them over the border”, he said.
Expected pushback from Minority-based parties
Minority-based opposition party All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) petitioned Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya recently, protesting “continued” harassment of Indian Muslims on the pretext of identifying and apprehending “so-called illegal foreigners” in the state.The party alleged people, especially from the Muslim community, were being picked up, interrogated and even arrested on the mere suspicion of being illegal immigrants.
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