Earlier, a single judge bench of the Madras HC had directed the Center to consider and grant citizenship to these Sri Lankan refugees. (Image: NEWS18/FILE)
Some Sri Lankan Tamils living in a refugee camp in Trichy’s Kottapattu had approached the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court seeking Indian citizenship.
- CNN-News18 Chennai
- Last Update:23 August 2021 at 8:19 pm IS
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The counsel for the central government argued before the Madras High Court that it cannot grant citizenship to Sri Lankan refugees who have entered India illegally, and there is no place for them as per law. The counsel also said that the Center cannot take a decision on “emotional grounds”.
On Monday, a bench of Chief Justice Sanjeev Banerjee and Justice Duraisamy heard the arguments.
Some Sri Lankan Tamils living in a refugee camp in Trichy’s Kottapattu had approached the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court seeking Indian citizenship. He had requested the High Court to direct the Center to grant him citizenship as his ancestors were from Tamil Nadu and had gone to Sri Lanka as plantation workers during the British rule. Now, he had left Sri Lanka because the situation was worse than it was during the civil war.
Earlier, the single judge bench of the Madras HC, which heard the matter, directed the Center to consider and grant citizenship to these Sri Lankan refugees. Therefore, the central government had approached a larger bench against the order of the single judge.
Centre’s counsel said, “We cannot grant citizenship to Sri Lankan refugees, who entered India illegally and who do not have any documents; Single judge out of emotion passes order to consider granting citizenship to refugees Therefore, the Center has approached a larger bench.”
After hearing the arguments, the Chief Justice’s bench sent notices to the petitioners and adjourned the matter for three weeks.
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