Writ Petition at SC for repatriation of Indians granted amnesty by Kuwait
Geetha P.K. V UOI
Pravasi Legal Cell, with the help of its Kuwait Chapter, filed a writ petition before the Hon’ble Supreme Court seeking directions to the Central Government to make appropriate arrangements to repatriate more than ten thousand Indian emigrants who were granted amnesty by the State of Kuwait.
The background of the writ petition is connected to the general amnesty granted by the State of Kuwait in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak to all those who do not have valid residency permits in the country. The petitioners in the matter were among the thousands of Indian emigrants who came within the ambit of the said amnesty scheme. They were unable to travel back to India due to the stringent travel restrictions imposed by the Indian Government.
The petition highlighted the challenges faced by these emigrant Indians living in deportation centres in Kuwait. The petition pointed out that the emigrants were also in immense stress and fear as they are prone to contracting Covid-19 in the overcrowded deportation centres. It is probably seeing the aforesaid scenario that the State of Kuwait also offered flights for repatriating the above-mentioned vulnerable section of Indian emigrants. It is in the light of this offer of Kuwait, that the petition prayed for a direction to the respondents to permit these flights to arrive in India.
The petition further highlighted that the petitioners must be repatriated expeditiously as they are presently living in Kuwait at the mercy of the State, and that the amnesty granted to them was time bound. The Indian migrants who were granted amnesty were initially directed to leave the country by 30.04.2020, failing which they would be subjected to imprisonment. It is also pertinent to mention that the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Civil Aviation were also arrayed as parties to this instant writ petition.
Status of the matter: The matter was disposed off on 15-05-2020. The Union government was directed to treat the petition as a representation and dispose of expeditiously. Pursuant to the intervention of the Supreme Court, Government of India, arranged more flights to Kuwait and by the end of June 2020, more than eight thousand Indians who were languishing at the deportation centres In Kuwait came back to India. It was another proud achievement for the PLC team.