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 after an official visit, 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.
‘There is an old law called the Immigrants Expulsion Order (1950), and during hearing on Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court said that this Act is still valid. Under its provisions, even a District Commissioner can issue an order for immediate pushback of illegal immigrants,’ CM Sarma said.
The CM 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.
Himanta Biswa Sarma further said that the process of detection and deportation of illegal immigrants had slowed due to the exercise to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state, and now the same will be expedited. “The detection process of illegal immigrants, which was going at a snail’s pace due to the NRC, will now speed up in Assam. Once detected, we will push them back into Bangladesh,” Sarma told the reporters.
He added that the process of detection and pushback of illegal immigrants will be taken up in a rapid speed, and the preparations for the same are going on. He added as now there will be no need to send such matters to tribunals; the process will be faster. However, the CM added that people who have approached courts challenging their deportation orders will not be deported till the courts settle the matters.
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.
The court had said that the fact that the parliament had enacted the law shows that “the huge influx of migrants from Bangladesh to Assam has always been a ‘cause for concern’ and Parliament has taken steps to address the issue previously.”
Notably, a similar law for the western border, the Influx from Pakistan (Control) Act, was repealed in January 1952. But the law for the eastern border that applied only in Assam remained in force. The Supreme Court also said that the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act 1950 was enacted because the Foreigners Act did not include immigrants from Pakistan.
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.
