GoM to study SC order on Illegal Migrants Act

Following political consternation caused by the Supreme Court's unequivocal order on the 1983 Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today decided to set up a group of ministers (GoM) to study the Supreme Court ruling and advise the government on what had to be done.

"The GoM will hear the views of various parties and advise the government for further action," Home Minister Shivraj Patil said after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs.

The Supreme Court had on Tuesday struck down as unconstitutional the IMDT Act, which the Opposition had termed as a tool to delay identification and deportation of illegal Bangladeshi migrants.

The Act was assailed by former Governor of Assam Gen SK Sinha as having proved useless in detecting illegal migrants, especially in Assam, because the onus of proving they were not illegal fell on the State. The NDA government was on the verge of winding up the IMD tribunals when it was voted out of power.

The common minimum programme pointedly refers to the IMDT Act in the context of migration being a socio-economic programme, to be viewed with understanding and sympathy.

On Tuesday while allowing a writ petition filed by Asom Gana Parishad MP Sarbananda Sonowal, the apex court had declared the IMDT Act and rules framed in 1984 as 'ultra vires' of the Constitution.

What the government will do on the IMDT act in a year assembly elections are going to be held in Assam is an open question. The current Assam Governor, Lt Gen Ajay Singh is also locked in a dispute with Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on the efficacy of the Act when the demographic character of much of Assam has changed drastically.

The BJP is hopeful NDA ally Asom Gana Parishad will do well in the election, but that the BJP will also manage to make an impression in Assam, following this controversy.

However, the All Assam Students Union (AASU) today warned all political parties against playing politics using the IMDT.

But another body, the All Assam Minority Students' Union (AAMSU) called a bandh today to protest the scrapping of the IMDT Act by the Supreme Court that affected life in Dhubri, Goalpara, Bongaigaon, Nalbari, Barpeta, Nagaon and Sonitpur districts.

Schools and business establishments were closed in minority-dominated areas while only a few buses plied on the national highway. There was no impact of the bandh on the majority dominated areas, indicating politics on this issue had already started in Assam.