Hearing a plea for Indian citizenship by 65 Tamils from Sri Lanka — the descendants of indentured labourers — the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has permitted them to submit fresh applications seeking citizenship, to the District Collectors concerned.
Justice G.R. Swaminathan directed the District Collectors concerned to forward the same without any delay to the Central government, which shall pass appropriate orders within a period of 16 weeks, considering the unique situation that the petitioners are placed in.
‘Exclusive domain’
“I consciously refrain from issuing any positive mandamus directing the Central government to provide citizenship to the writ petitioners herein. This is because citizenship falls within the exclusive executive domain of the Central government,” the judge said.
Both the Centre and the State had contended that the petitioners arrived in India without valid permits, and being illegal migrants, they were not eligible for the grant of Indian Citizenship as per the provisions of the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955.
However, the court held that the petitioners could invoke Article 21 of the Constitution, which applies to citizens and non-citizens alike.
Unique situation
The Central government had also earlier given an undertaking that they will not be compulsorily sent back to Sri Lanka.
Therefore, the case on hand presented a rather unique situation.
The petitioners, most of them currently lodged at the transit camp in Kottapattu, Tiruchi district, and in other transit camps, contended that they were descendants of labourers who had settled down in the tea estates of Sri Lanka during colonial times.
Following the turmoil, the petitioners said they had to escape from Sri Lanka to save themselves.
They claimed that they should be treated as Indian repatriates and sought the grant of Indian citizenship.
