Deportation system mockery: HC

Expressing its displeasure over the state and Centres inability to tackle influx of Bangladeshis into the country...

Expressing its displeasure over the state and Centres inability to tackle influx of Bangladeshis into the country, Justice B K Sharma of the Gauhati High Court has said the machinery for detecting and deporting infiltrators,including Foreigners Tribunals,serves no useful purpose.

The entire machinery is a mere mockery and no useful purpose has been served in establishing Foreigners Tribunals and spending crores of rupees in the name of detection and deportation of foreign nationals, Justice Sharma said in an order last week.

He was commenting on a writ petition filed by Md Ataur Rahman,a Bangladeshi national who had been declared a foreigner and deported to Bangladesh,but managed to re-enter India.

According to the Assam government,Rahman was pushed back to Bangladesh on November 17,2008 after being declared as a foreigner who had illegally entered the country. However,the petitioner claimed that he was instead released deep in a jungle along the Indo-Bangla border on November 20,2008. To this,the state government said in an affidavit that it was for the Border Security Force (BSF) to explain how Rahman managed to re-enter the country.

Expressing shock over the manner and method in which a deported Bangladeshi could come back to India and invoke a writ jurisdiction in a court of law,Justice Sharma asked the Centre as well as state to file fresh affidavits and clear their stand on the matter by August 26. Bangladeshis pushed out from India are able to merrily come back to Assam,even to the extent of invoking the writ jurisdiction of this court! the judge said.

MoD rejects Tawang airport proposal

ITANAGAR: The Defence Ministry has rejected a proposal to construct an airport at the Buddhist town of Tawang as it is located close to the Sino-India border,the Arunachal Pradesh government said on Monday. They have rejected the proposal but I have taken up the issue with the Defence Minister who has assured me to relook into the demand, Arunachal CM Dorjee Khandu said. Tawang is linked by daily helicopter service from Guwahati through Bhutan. The CM alleged that despite clearance for the airport,the Civil Aviation Ministry is delaying construction. PTI