Source: thehindu.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hearing a plea for Indian citizenship by 65 Tamils from Sri Lanka \u2014 \nthe descendants of indentured labourers \u2014 the Madurai Bench of the \nMadras High Court has permitted them to submit a fresh application \nseeking citizenship to the District Collector concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justice \nG.R. Swaminathan directed the District Collector concerned to forward \nthe same without any delay to the Central government. The Central \ngovernment shall pass appropriate orders within a period of 16 weeks, \nconsidering the unique situation that the petitioners are placed in, the\n court said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI consciously refrain from issuing any positive \nmandamus directing the Central government to provide citizenship to the \nwrit petitioners herein. This is because citizenship falls within the \nexclusive executive domain of the Central government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy heart may bleed for the petitioners but I have to be mindful of the Lakshman Rekha <\/em>that\n limits the bounds of judicial power. Going beyond will be encroachment.\n Any form of encroachment is bad. Encroachment by the judiciary into the\n executive realm can be no exception. Some may say it is exceptionally \nbad,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both\n the Centre and State had contended the petitioners arrived in India \nwithout valid permits and, being illegal immigrants, were not eligible \nfor the grant of Indian Citizenship as per the provisions under the \nIndian Citizenship Act , 1955.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the court held that the \npetitioners could invoke Article 21 of the Constitution, which applies \nto all, citizens and non-citizens alike. The petitioners were \ngenealogically rooted to this soil, spoke our language, belonged to our \nculture and intended to make India their permanent home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, the\n Central government had earlier given an undertaking that they will not \nbe sent back compulsorily to Sri Lanka. Therefore, the case on hand \npresents a rather unique situation. They had been in camps for 35 years \nunder surveillance in severely restricted conditions and a state of \nstatelessness for a long period offends their Right under Article 21 of \nthe Constitution, the court said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The petitioners, most of them \ncurrently lodged at the transit camp in Kottapattu, Tiruchi District, \nand a few others in other transit camps, contended that they were \ndescendants of labourers who had settled down in the tea estates of Sri \nLanka during the colonial times. Following the turmoil, they said that \nthey had to escape from Sri Lanka to save themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They \ncontended that they should not be considered as part of those Tamils \nfrom the Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka, the Tamil-speaking natives of \nSri Lanka, who are treated as refugees. They claimed that they should be\n treated more as Indian repatriates and sought the grant of Indian \ncitizenship.<\/p>\n