Tripura HC disposes of PIL on illegal immigration, allows re-filing if state fails to respond

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) regarding illegal immigration to Tripura was disposed of by a state High Court on July 10.

Dr Bijoy Debbarma, convener of a civil rights body and John Debbarma, a student activist affiliated to Twipra Students' Federation (TSF), jointly moved the PIL after their submission to the state government failed to evoke any response.

The petitioners had submitted a representation to the state government on June 24 seeking to know how it was planning to follow the instruction of the Centre on illegal immigration.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued a notification in May asking the states to act strictly against illegal immigrants. The notification mandated four-stage of action against the illegal immigrants: detention, adjudication, detention and deportation of infiltrators.

"On the first hearing on Thursday, the division bench led by Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh disposed of the petition on the ground that the petitioners must wait for some more time to get feedback from the state government," Deputy Solicitor General, Bidyot Majumder, told reporters.

However, the petitioners will have the liberty to approach the court afresh on the issue if they fail to get any response from the government on the matter within a reasonable time, he said.

Tipra Motha MLA Ranjit Debbarma had recently written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking his intervention to identify and deport illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh and Myanmar.