Will speed up deportation of illegal immigrants by using 1950 law: Assam CM

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday asserted that the government would speed up the process of deporting illegal immigrants from the state to safeguard the indigenous community.

CM Sarma told the Assembly: 'The state government is set to use the 1950 law to expel the illegal immigrants here. The apex Court of the country has also given a nod regarding this. The administrative machinery will work accordingly to make Assam free from illegal immigrants.'

The Chief Minister also pressed for safeguarding the interests of Assamese people. He said, “I am an Assamese first and a Chief Minister later.”

The Assam government has decided to invoke a little-known law from 1950 -- the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Order -- to fast-track the deportation of undocumented immigrants, bypassing the usual judicial process.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced the shift earlier, stating that the identification and removal of "foreigners" would now proceed at a faster pace after slowing down due to complications surrounding the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

“This time, if someone is identified as a foreigner, we will not have to approach the foreigners’ tribunal to initiate a pushback,” CM Sarma said.

Referring to a previous Supreme Court hearing on Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, he added that the court had clarified that the Assam government is not obligated to seek judicial approval for every deportation.

He pointed to the Immigrants Expulsion Order, enacted in 1950, which he claimed grants district commissioners (DCs) the authority to issue deportation orders without judicial intervention. “Our lawyers had not informed us about this provision earlier. We recently became aware of it, and we are now taking it seriously,” he said.

The Chief Minister confirmed that deportations have already begun under the renewed approach, though individuals with pending cases in court have not yet been affected.

The move marks a departure from the long-standing process involving foreigners’ tribunals -- quasi-judicial bodies responsible for determining the status of suspected undocumented immigrants. Until now, individuals declared as “foreigners” by the tribunals had the right to challenge the verdict in the High Court and the Supreme Court.

IANS