Supreme Court Directs Assam Government to Expedite Process For Permanent Detention Centres

PERMANENT DETENTION CENTRE FOR ALIENS

* Proposed camp to come up on 20 bighas of land at Matia in Goalpara

* Centre sanctions Rs 46.51 crore for project

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Sept 16: The Supreme Court of India has directed the Assam Government to expedite the process of constructing a permanent detention camp for “foreign nationals” in the State. Meanwhile, the Assam Government has reserved 20 bighas of land in Goalpara district for constructing the permanent detention camp, the first of its kind in the State. This move of the State Government has been followed by the sanctioning of Rs 46.51 crore by the Central Government for the purpose.

The permanent detention camp to be located at Matia – about 150 km west of Guwahati – will have a capacity of sheltering about 3,000 people. The new camp will have facilities like living quarters for its inmates.

A two-member SC bench comprising Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta made the significant observation on September 12, 2018. The Supreme Court of India has also expressed surprise that none of the State governments in the nation has constructed permanent detention camps for detained “foreign nationals” despite communication from the Centre towards that end.

The Government of India had sent a communication in this regard to all the State governments way back on September 10, 2014. It observed “…a communication was sent as far back as on 10th September, 2014 to all the State Governments for setting up of detention centres/holding centres/camps for restricting the movement of illegal immigrants/foreign nationals awaiting deportation/repatriation after completion of sentence due to non-confirmation of nationality.”

The bench, however, observed that not a single State has set up such camps: “We are not at all surprised that not a single State has set up detention centre/holding centre/camp. Unfortunately, this includes the State of Assam also which has a very large number of illegal immigrants/foreign nationals.”

Pointing out that the State of Assam has also filed a response... stating “that land has been earmarked for the construction of a detention centre in Goalpara itself”, the SC bench added: “We expect the State of Assam to ensure that the construction is carried out at the earliest.”

At present, there are six temporary detention camps across the State. However, all such camps are attached to the jails in Kokrajhar, Goalpara, Jorhat, Tezpur, Dibrugarh and Silchar. Currently, there are approximately 800 declared foreigners/D voters in the six detention camps.

The apex court has further asked the Government of India “to explore the possibility of converting the earlier jail premises in Guwahati into a detention centre.” The earlier jail premise is at Fancy Bazar in the city.