The apex court on Monday adjourned various petitions seeking repatriation of stranded Indians in other countries stating that it may not be possible to get back all Indians amidst the pandemic. A bench comprising of CJI SA Bobde with Justices L Nageswara Rao and Mohan M Shantanagoudar while hearing the pleas regarding evacuations of stranded Indian citizens via video conferencing stated, People should stay where they are right now,” and added that it may not be possible to bring back all the Indian citizens under the present circumstances.
However, the court has directed the government to take all actions to ensure safety of Indians in foreign jurisdictions and the affected persons can make a representation before the centre regarding the same.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the Court that while visa extensions are being granted to people in various countries amid this pandemic, bringing back Indians right now would not be possible.
The court has also asked SG Mehta to file specific response to the plea filed by Senior Advocate Vibha Datta Makhija regarding the evacuation of Indian citizens from the USA.
The petitions that have been adjourned for the next four weeks include one filed by MP from Kozhikode MK Raghavan for evacuating stranded Indian citizens from GCC nations, a similar plea filed earlier for evacuation of Indian migrant workers in Gulf countries filed by a migrant welfare society amongst others.
The court had earlier disposed of a plea regarding evacuation of Indian pilgrims from the Iranian city of Qom after recording the Centre’s assurance that most of the pilgrims had been brought back and those who remained to be in Iran were either infected or were relatives of those infected persons and chose to stay back.
